You know, Music, the talk.  It isn’t really that I’m breaking up with you, but you can’t tell me that you haven’t noticed the change.  You’ve been very patient, but I know you must have noticed.   Yes, yes, I miss those long hours we used to spend together, too.  But I’m sure that it is better this way…this way, when we spend time together, it will be for a greater purpose or maybe just to be together.  I know it is better this way.

It’s not you…it’s me.  I’m the one who has changed.  Really.  And I hope that we can still be friends, because, well, I owe you everything.

Without these years of learning through you, I wouldn’t be who I am today.  I gained a lot of confidence working with you, I found out more about myself and my true nature than I could have found if I stayed in the business world.  I learned languages that stimulated my heart and my mind; I’ve traveled places and met people and had experiences I never could have dreamed of without you.   You have been a hard task master; you have forced me to look deep within myself and ask and try to answer the really hard questions of life.

But lately, I’ve come to understand that, well, I’ve given you too much power, Music.  You see, because I wanted you too much, I’ve broken an important commandment:  “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  And that was wrong.  And that is not who I am, Music.

I know that it wasn’t your fault; it was mine.  And for a while, I thought that, well, this separation would be final and permanent.  But now I know that this is just a re-adjustment.  We need to get our priorities straight, you and I.  There are more important things in life.

That’s why I really hope we can still be friends.  You serve a purpose in my life, Music, you always have.  We just have to accept that things are going to be a little more balanced around here.  And I really think we will both be much happier for making this choice.

So I’ll keep singing and you keep doing whatever it is that you are doing.  But we are both going to remember that singing is a way of communicating, not an end in itself.  I will have a life with music, not a life ruled by music.  Look at it this way — this is the chance to build a whole new relationship. And it might just be a better one.

These talks are never pleasant, and change is always painful, but it has been coming on for a while.  Maybe if we both get clear about it, things will be just a little easier.

It was time we had this talk.  Really.