From The Strange California Journey Of Ramona White

The first sign of trouble came when I tried to tell my friends.
"Don't you love each other?" they asked.
"Yes," I said.
"You have fun together?"
"Yes," I said.
"Then why split up?" they asked. And asked. And asked.
"Because it will be time," I insisted.

But I might as well have been talking to a doorstop. I had no words to make them understand.

"Is it wrong?" I had asked Rick. "Is it wrong to cut someone loose to travel their own path?"
"I wouldn't call it wrong," he had said, "but it is weird."
"Why?" I had asked. "Why is it weird not to be selfish? Or maybe it is selfish." I had thought for a moment. "Maybe it is selfish to not want to spend the rest of your life with someone whose dreams are elsewhere and who wishes they were free to follow them."
"Maybe it is," he had said, "but I think it's a good selfish."

Can anyone really promise to love each other and stay together forever?
All we can do, all anyone can realistically do, is try to stay friends and give each other room to grow.

Hm.