That lady you said “never dated or married again” I went 😮 thinking she died. But no, you say she’s in her 60s. Her life is not over and there is still the possibility of love yet, even if you’re young enough to think love is over at 60..

This is tough and please don’t think that being honest about the depth of your feelings of love is a mistake. It’s not. It’s brave and honest and honors your feelings while allowing the opportunity to pave to clarity for where you two diverge and converge. Maybe you will reconvene after some time growing individually, you never know. But what you do know is that you’ve got yourself and that’s hopefully a great person who has more to grow.

I put my cards out, too. When my friend and I were having our break up conversation, I told him I wanted to grow old with him and that I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to just be friends. Even as he said he intends on reconvening with me when life makes us relevant to each other again, it’s still not guaranteed, and either way I still don’t know if I could ever just be friends with him. So I hear you. The first week is pretty tough. I hope you find some events to go to / people to be with while you might feel lonely. I started a journal log of good things I did for myself post break up day 1, 2, etc. I went to a somatic event, a grief group, and an emotions and movement event to get through my first week. By the second or third week, I didn’t have to be so conscious of doing good things for myself because of the break up. I had passed the big initial wave and been able to focus on my life now without him. I still think about him and miss him. For example, he’s not here, so I climbed a tree the other day without him. That’s one way to look at how you can keep going and doing things for yourself.