First off, let me start by saying that I don't hate you. The things that happened between us broke my heart, and it would be easy to hate you for that. But I will always have love for you. The kind of love that makes you want to put another person before yourself. So even if you're not with me anymore, I wish you happiness now and for the rest of your life. And I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart.

Now let's get to our story. It started out like any epic love story does, with passion and long talks and cute dates. But it was also much more than that. We told each other everything, even our deepest darkest secrets that we could never say out loud to anyone else. We connected on a level that made everything seem like it was going to be ok. We were each other's first big loves, which lead us to make promises that we couldn't keep, even though we fully intended on keeping them at the time. We thought we knew everything, thought we were invincible. Perhaps that was our biggest mistake.

We were 18 years old and madly in love, which meant we didn't care what anyone else thought or said. That's why when, after two months of dating, you asked me to marry you I said yes. This was the kind of romance and love that I only thought existed in movies. I was on top of the world, and I was convinced that we would be together forever.

Everything came together perfectly, and a year and a half later, our wedding was everything a girl could hope for. It was beautiful and we were surrounded by friends and family when we said "I do". We were so deeply in love and crazy about each other that it felt like the great times would never end. But like any tragic love story, things took a turn for the worse.

The arguing began as we moved out on our own and real, adult life started to set in. Arguing about money, freedom, and sometimes arguing about the most trivial things. After how amazing our relationship started, reality was a true smack in the face. You started to shut me out, and I could feel it. And instead of trying to fix it, I thought that maybe it was normal or just a phase that we would get through. But as time went on, you pushed me away more and more, little by little, and we knew that our love story was coming to an end. I held on with all that I could, not wanting to accept it. I didn't want everyone who told us we were too young or too naive to be right. I wanted us to work through everything we were going through because we promised each other forever and always. But you had already changed your mind.

You had decided to move on, and I wasn't even ready to let go. You left about five months ago, and you took a big part of me with you. You left my heart shattered into a million pieces, and I don't know if I'll ever fully recover. And for that, I just want to say one thing to you. Thank you. Even though I still miss you and think about you every single day, I know that it'll eventually get easier. I had convinced myself that I couldn't live without you, but here I am. I may still be healing, but I'm alive. I now understand that I am strong enough, pretty enough, smart enough, I am ENOUGH. At the end of the day, the only person I have is myself, and I'm ok with that now. I don't need a relationship to define me, I'm ok on my own. And I know that because I lost the one thing that I didn't think I could stand to lose. My first true love.

So I don't regret what we had for even a second, because it made us both the people we are today. It's pretty bizarre to be 21 and divorced, but it taught us lessons about ourselves that we never would've learned otherwise. What we had was amazing, but it wasn't meant to last and that's ok. I hope you still think about me when you hear my favorite song or you're flipping through the t.v. channels and it lands on one of the movies we used to watch. And I hope you can look back on our memories and smile. We had a good run, and you will always have a place in my heart. Maybe one day we can run into each other and strike up a conversation and catch up, or maybe that day will never come. But either way you were a crucial part of my life, and I'll cherish our memories and the lessons we taught each other forever.

Sincerely,

The girl who is finally letting go