Don’t wait to celebrate (my sad love story)

Sep 5, 2013 | Sparkly Love


The last couple weeks have been the hardest of my life. This is because Neil and I have decided to end our engagement and split up. It feels like such a crazy whirlwind because we only got engaged in Spain 3 months ago! As hard as it is, we both know it’s for the best and that there are very exciting times ahead for each of us. It’s sad that our lives will not be shared, but we fully support each other, and hope to remain friends.

While travelling in Germany, we stayed with a friend’s family who live on a farm about 2 hours outside Berlin. The area is know as the ‘Tuscany of the North’ because they have so many vineyards. One thing they are known for is sparkling wine, which they claim to be just as good as Champaign (from France). Neil and I decided to buy a bottle to celebrate our engagement but ran out of time on the farm and instead packed it up for a future celebration.

We lugged the bottle back to Berlin and thought we would open it up on our 3 year anniversary a few weeks later…but we wanted to drink wine with dinner instead so we decided to wait.

Then we took the bottle to our last stop of our Eurotrip which was London and said we’d open it on our last day…but we had such an early flight the next day so decided to wait.

After London, we went to the World Domination Summit in Portland and said we would open it on our very last night…but then I came down with a nasty cold so we decided to wait.

By this time the bottle was put into our fridge in Vancouver we promised it would definitely be popped when the deal for our very first home together closed…but then got busy and didn’t get around to it.

About a month later, we made the excruciating decision to end our relationship. I packed up my stuff and left. Hardest thing I have ever done. A few days after the dust settled, Neil sent me a photo of the sparkling wine that we hauled around carefully in his backpack for thousands of miles, across 2 continents and 4 countries. It remains unopened despite the many many things we had to celebrate and never got around to.

When I thought about this, it not only broke my heart but it also made me realize how easy it is to just put things off and never get around to celebrating how amazing life really is. We had the opportunity to celebrate an engagement, anniversary, 2 months of amazing travel and buying a new home…but we didn’t make it a priority so we never got around to it.

Despite our relationship ending, Neil and I have made a pact to open that damn bottle of German sparkling wine and at least celebrate the memories we shared together and the future we will experience apart. I am sure there will be tears, but as the old saying goes it’s ‘better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’

I hope this post will encourage you to celebrate all the beautiful and special moments life gives you.

Sparkly (teary) love,

Jenna

Meet Jenna

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