D and I broke things off two weeks ago yesterday. I guess I should be honest and say that he broke things off. In the last two weeks I have cried a lot, slept even less, and there were a couple of nights when I walked around my apartment, not knowing what to do, and feeling completely lost. My apartment became my sanctuary. It was just as messy as my brain was, and none of my pieces seemed to fit. In the last two weeks I have taken a good long look at myself, and realized that even if I wasn't right for him, or any of the men I have thought I was right for in the past, that I am a good person, and I am right for SOMEONE. It also made me take a step back and realize what I am looking for, more than anything else right now.
Companionship. I want someone to hang out with. Don't get me wrong, hanging out with Aiden every night during the week up until 7:30 is fun, and the biggest joy of my life, but I stay up way later than 7:30 most days. There are hours up hours that are taken up by nothing. I don't need a lover, even though a lover would be a bonus. What I want is a best friend. Even my best of friends have fallen by the side on this. T goes out of town every weekend to visit her boyfriend, and even when he comes here, he doesn't like me so I don't get to see her then, either. M works nights, and is busy with school. My sister lives six hours away. I want someone to cook dinner with, watch TV with, laugh and cry and tell jokes with.
I was never anyone but myself with D, flaws and all. But once again, I'm told "it's not you, it's me." How can you change something if you're not made aware of what there is to fix?
Losing him as my counterpart is only made more difficult by the fact that I fell deeply in love with his children. I had picked out Christmas presents, and birthday presents. I had made plans. Aiden would tell me how he thought of them as his little brothers. He would bring home writing assignments from school that were written about them.
The last night we spent together, I knew something was off. Something didn't feel right, but I didn't want to be the overly paranoid girlfriend and say anything about it. Unknown to him, until now, but I cried myself to sleep that night. I listened to him get ready for work the next morning, pretending to be asleep. I rolled over and kissed him goodbye when he was leaving, and I knew something had changed. Even now, I don't even know what that something was. I was suddenly not enough.
Someone never saying "I love you" to you is one thing. To have them say "I don't love you." is so much more heartbreaking than never hearing the words could ever be.
So here I am, sad and mad and frustrated and coping. My last three relationships have ended, suddenly, and without my consent. When did things in any relationships stop being about compromise? That's what you do when you're with someone, you talk to them, you bounce ideas off of them, you tell them where they stand. This is something that is endlessly confusing to me, especially because in each of these cases, everything was good until suddenly it wasn't.
I am going about my days. I am self-medicating with exercise and red beers. I am trying to read books I've wanted to read, and I am no longer living out of a suit case. I have since cleaned my apartment and I'm no longer living in a pile of clean or dirty clothes. The bills are paid, the bellies are full, and we are going to be okay.
I miss my friend, desperately. I miss sitting on my balcony texting him long before I had ever heard his voice. I miss telling him stories and having him tell me stories. I miss him telling me that he thinks I'm beautiful, even though I never believed him. I hate feeling like I've just become another notch on his headboard, another number he can talk about while drinking with his friends, or when he meets someone new.
I hate that I put so much into this, and now it feels like my relationship had been reduced to a shoebox full of little things.
Was I ever anything more than that?
No comments:
Post a Comment