Dear Ex Boyfriend,

It has been one year since we have last seen each other, and since that day I have not been able to stop thinking about you. Not in the way that you would think. I’ve thought about the way that you treated me before, during, as well as after the time that we dated. I would like to thank you.

Thank you for telling me that you hated my hair. You told me that you did not like girls wearing their hair short, nor curly. Guess what I did? I got a haircut last month, the way you said you hated it and I could not be more in love with how it looks.

Thank you for letting me cry myself to sleep asking myself what I did wrong when you angrily cut me off by hanging up the phone whenever I tried to prove my point about an argument.

Thank you for telling your family that I was just your friend when I was clearly your girlfriend. Just friends do not kiss or hold hands and remain friends.

Thank you for trying to convert me from my beliefs to yours. How selfish of you to think that I was going to do so just so that I could be accepted by your family.

Thank you for promising me forever when you knew that we were not going to last. I do not care that we were young, that is still no excuse.

Thank you for always putting me down every chance you had. Remember that day when I was visibly upset and you continued to ask me if I was “bipolar”? Later you told me that my attitude was annoying and that I acted like a baby.

Thank you for telling me that she was just a friend. You started showing me signs that I could not trust you and you taught me how to trust my gut feelings.

Thank you for breaking up with me while being with her. You cheated on me with her and something inside of me screamed, “I told you so.” She was not just your friend. She was your girlfriend and so was I.

Thank you for allowing her to overstep her boundaries. That little kiss that you two shared, the long talks when I was not around, the little games you guys played should not have been allowed at all. When I told you how I felt about it, you still blew me off and continued to feed her need for your affection.

Thank you for not understanding how much I loved you. I loved you more than I loved any person that has ever walked this earth. I loved you more than the sun loved the moon in the sky. You however did not understand that. You were not someone who loved me.

Thank you for being an example of someone who I will one day warn my future daughters about. My daughters will learn what love in a relationship is not.

Thank you for cheating on me and blaming me. You told me that if I was a bit more outgoing, less stubborn, your religion, and more beautiful, then we would still be together.

Now for the biggest thanks of all.

I want to thank you, from the bottom of my still mending heart, that you taught me that there is someone in this world that is going to love every little thing that you hated about me.

When I was with you, I threw part of myself away to keep you satisfied and when you left, a part of me left as well. If I could give one piece of advice to the girl I was when we dated, I would have warned her not to date someone like you. Thank God there is no such thing as a time machine because you taught me that I do not live up to anyone’s expectations except for God’s.

Sincerely,

The girl who once loved you.