I Divorced a Man I Loved
Leaving someone doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t love them
I call my friend to check on her. She’s broken up with a guy she’s been seeing for several years. She shed a few tears the night before.
“I’m calling to check on you,” I say.
“I’m fine,” she says. “Thanks for calling. I don’t know why I cried. I’m not a crier.”
“I get it,” I say.
“The tears aren’t for him,” she says. “I don’t regret leaving him.”
“Just because we leave someone,” I say. “Doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t love them. It means we’re smart enough to know they aren’t good for us. I still loved my husband when I left him. I didn’t want to be unhappy or unhealthy anymore.”
“I guess it’s good to get it out,” she says. “It’s good to go through the stages of a relationship ending.”
“A lot of relationships end,” I say. “And it’s not for a lack of love. It’s all of the other mitigating circumstances that crawl into our lives.”
“Yes,” she says.
“It’s good that we had the strength to leave bad relationships,” I say.
“I know,” she says.
“I sometimes forget that a remnant of me, did still love my husband. It’s why it took me…
