For Both Of Us

When I laugh now
I laugh for both of us

When I put on pajamas
And make my own breakfast
And listen to loud music
I do it
For both of us

When they told you
That you were sick

I heard you list in your head
All the things
You didn't do

The vacations you didn't take
The books you didn't read
The cars you weren't going to get to drive

And I remembered that list
I just didn't say anything

I let you think
That those boxes you racked up
Your whole life
Were going to stay unchecked

But once you were gone
I started checking the boxes

I climbed the sand dunes
I swam in the shark-infested waters
I ate papaya on a beach
Next to a burned-out sunset

And when I was scared of the sharks
Or the uncertainty
Or the possibility of failure

I remembered you
I remembered that I was doing it
For the both of us

And that was enough

From that point on
All I was scared of
Was leaving this life
With even one unchecked box

And now there's someone with me
A little box with her own list
Of things she's going to spend her life
Trying to accomplish

And I'll be with her
And you'll be with me
And there will be a long line
A lineage of women
On a journey

Going and going
Until one day

There's just a girl
Standing next to a sunset
Waiting to blow it out
Like a birthday candle

Making that last wish
For all of us