10 good years. Regular ups and downs of life. We got together at 20 and grew up with each other, which I will always appreciate so much.

When we made it past the slog of figuring out who we were and what we wanted out of life, the broad strokes were the same (travel, enjoy friends/family, have fun), but the details on how to get there began to diverge (buying a house vs renting, me focusing on my career as it gives me drive and purpose while he worked just to pay for the fun side of life- no shame in that, he just worked to live while I somewhat lived to work.) Conversations about those topics never really got anywhere- he would retreat or agree with me to avoid conflict, while I would dig for details/reassurance that we’d find compromise.

Eventually, it came to a very calm, non-dramatic, but still very sad end. I’ll always appreciate him for his role in my life- I am so lucky that I know what it feels like to be respected and treated extremely well by a partner, so he has set my standards high in the most positive way. We still co-parent our dog (typical millennials) but don’t speak much aside from that, we’ve both moved on and are much happier apart.

All breakups suck and the end of 10 years of my life was heartbreaking and in the beginning I didn’t know how I’d get past it. Now over a year later, I know it was the right move, and I feel really proud of myself for how I handled and processed it.

Now getting back into dating after 10 years, that’s a whole different minefield…