I’ve been thinking and have come to a conclusion that at least a small part of my fear of romantic relationships is that I fear the end of them. I have a thought in my head about most likely being interlocked with a vitriolic hatred of a person I currently like since, generally, the relationship is likely to end.
Of course, not all relationships end violently and terribly because one member was cheating on 16 people and the other one harassing them for years after the end, just a great deal of the ones you hear about (because, you know, they’re notable). So I would like some stories of well, average breakups, breakups that ended on a positive note (not positive like “now I’m not going to have to explain bruises anymore!” of course), or breakups that may have even ended in a weird way or ended up directly causing something odd/funny to happen. Of course I realize that generally even “good” breakups aren’t entirely positive, but I’m talking about even with that twinge or regret or sadness something that overall was any of the above things.
Obviously things like “Alice and Bob went out, they decided they didn’t quite share a world view, they went their separate ways,” and “Candice and Jane dated, Jane went to an out-of-state College, the end,” are on the boring end of things, so maybe COMPLETELY mundane isn’t something you should post. At least try to make it interesting. And if it’s uninteresting at least make the averageness entertaining to read. If this thread flounders, eh, I tried. Just thought I’d try my luck at some good storied about THE END! 'Sides, I just got out of a bit of an emotional crash and need something positive to read and the positive/negative thread ratio isn’t enough to feed me right now.
Let’s see. When I was in high school, I started going out with a guy who really, really liked me a lot…but I, while fond of him as a friend, wasn’t feeling it. He was a bit younger than me, and had sort of fibbed about his driver’s license, so I used that as an excuse to break up with him. But before I dealt him the awful blow, I had noticed that an underclassman had a huge crush on him. We were all in marching band together (why, yes, we were geeks, why do you ask?) and she was actually in one of my squads, so kind of used to listening when I told her to do something. I chose my moment, tried to deal the blow as gently as possible to preserve his dignity (It’s not you, it’s me) and then as I walked away, I walked past little Patti’s table in the library. I leaned over and told her, “I just broke up with Chris. He could probably use a friend right now…why don’t you go over there and let him cry on your shoulder…and by the way, he’s all yours now!” She immediately took the hint, found an excuse to go over to his table, and they went steady for three years after that. They became quite the old married couple…in fact, maybe I should find out if they ever got married! Haven’t heard from either of them since graduation. Chris and I eventually went back to being friends again…I assured Patti I was not in moving back in on him, and we all got along great. Best breakup I ever had.
boy 1: broke up because it wasn’t clicking.
boy 2: broke up because he lived in Ohio and we were both 16.
boy 3: broke up because he lived in Toronto, same same.
boy 4: broke up, got back together, broke up, got back together in a seemingly endless cycle of relationship silliness and mild drama, compounded by his being way too sexy for my own good. finally broke up for good about three years after we started seeing each other.
boy 5: drama.
boy 6: drama.
boy 7: broke up because he moved to Ottawa and it wasn’t clicking. perfectly amiable.
boy 8: broke up due to incompatible personalities (he liked butches. well, it’s not like he wasn’t warned.)
About 10 years ago or so, my then-girlfriend broke up with me because, when we were shooting bad jokes back and forth, she was offended by a joke I told her. This one.
I was horribly dumped at 15. It took me about four years, but we started speaking again, briefly by phone, but mostly by snail mail, then e-mail, and now FB.
So I’ve been friends with him (including the time we dated, but excluding the four year period where I had the “I hate yous”) for nearly 22 years now.
You actually wanted to date a Torontonian??? What were you thinking, man??? (A Montrealer and a Torontonian? Might as well have Osama bin Laden marry the head of B’nai Brith!)
My (former) grandma and her first husband were really good friends who married and then realized they didn’t really love one another ‘‘in that way.’’ They divorced amicably and even continued living together while they raised their son. Even long after my (former) grandma married my (former) grandpa, she only moved next door from her ex-husband, and he continued to come over to her new house on a regular basis. In fact, over 20 years after the divorce, all of our holiday parties involved her ex husband. My (former) grandmpa accepted his wife’s ex husband just as completely, and they regularly went fishing together and stuff. Ol’ Bill was just as much a part of the family as anyone else.