Better Than We Ever Were

[VERSE 1]
We were young, didn’t know how to last,
Something real, but moving too fast.
I told myself I’d be over you soon,
But some things don’t listen to reason or rules.

I carried your name like a quiet song,
Said I moved on, but it stayed this long.
Not loud, not sharp, just there somehow,
Like a past that waits for silence, not now.

[PRE-CHORUS]
I learned how to grow, learned how to choose,
Learned what love should never lose.

[CHORUS]
You’re not my life, you’re not my home,
You’re not the place my heart belongs.
I found something real, something true,
I ended up better than we ever would.
I don’t look back with regret or blame,
Just a quiet memory without a name.

[VERSE 2]
We took our chances, then moved on,
Different paths, but the feeling’s gone.
You found your forever, I found mine too,
Two full lives, both honest, both true.

My son is everything to me and my wife,
The center of the life we built.
She knows my shadows, knows my light,
And loves the man I couldn’t be back then.

[PRE-CHORUS 2]
This isn’t longing, this isn’t doubt,
Just proof some feelings never burn out.

[CHORUS]
You’re not my life, you’re not my home,
You’re not the place my heart belongs.
I found something real, something true,
I ended up better than we ever would.
I wouldn’t trade this, not a part,
I’m exactly where I chose to start.

[BRIDGE]
Maybe first love stays as a sign,
Of who you were before the time.
Not to return, not to repeat,
Just to remind you you survived the leap.

I hope you’re happy, I mean that still,
I hope your world turned out fulfilled.
We were a chapter, not the end,
A beginning we couldn’t yet defend.

[BREAKDOWN – very soft]
I don’t miss you the way songs pretend,
I just remember who I was back then.

[FINAL CHORUS]
You’re not my life, you’re not my now,
I chose this road and I’d choose it again somehow.
I have a family, I have a name,
A love that stayed, a love that came.
I didn’t lose, I didn’t fail,
I just grew past a different tale.

[OUTRO]
Some loves teach you how to begin.
This one taught me how to win.

Male pop-emo ballad with raw emotion, intimate verses and a mature, hopeful ending.