A few days after I wrote my article, An Open Letter To My Ex, it was published on The Odyssey and was shared on my Facebook. I did my usual sharing routine - I had moved on to my next article idea and I wasn't really thinking about my open letter. Honestly, that whole part of my life has existed for so long that I actively try not to linger on it.

And then I got a message.

I won't go into any personal details, but basically the person to whom I had been writing, responded. He told me, essentially, that he was sorry.

I read the message... I re-read the message... I re-re-read the message...

What am I supposed to say back? I thought to myself. What's the right thing to say?

It's possible that he's reading this post. You're a smart group so I'm sure you've already put that together by now. But, like the last post, I'm writing this for me. So, don't worry - this is not going to be some way of talking to him while not talking to him.

So... How did I respond?

I meditated.

Yep, I actually really sat there and thought about this. I came to the decision that, what I want the end result to be is, I want us both to be happy and able to move past this.

I set the phone down and stepped away.

I didn't want to respond immediately. I wanted my response to be kind, clear, definitive and understood.

I let myself go through the (e)motions.

I was furious. I was hurt. I was happy. I was all of those things and more, as I allowed myself to roll through and process those emotions. I tried to see the pros and the cons of letting each of those emotions dominate my response.

I talked about it.

I asked my friends what they thought I should say. They helped me workshop through how I felt.

I reopened up the message and...

I closed the app.

Yep. I didn't respond. Because I didn't need that anymore. His apology, something I once really wanted, was not enough to fix that wound and it wasn't what I needed anymore.

At the end of writing that article, I felt better - just as I had felt better every day after that breakup. I just have way too many reasons to be happy.

I used to say that I could not conceive of a life without him... And now I'm so thankful that it ended when it did. I almost wish it had happened sooner. Then I remember a few times it almost did... (The previous Valentines Day? Yikes.)

Heres the thing - any damage that had been done? I fixed it. Any challenge that I faced during that time? I got through it.

I am the one who pulled me back up onto my own two feet - and no man, no one, nothing can keep me down now. #girlpower