Thank you for loving me, for teaching me what love is and what it isn’t.

You gave me that first experience of being so emotionally invested in a person that sometimes you don’t realize the leaves are still turning, the world is still spinning, that things are rather ordinary. Because you’re stuck on this one extraordinary thing. You’re so mesmerized that sometimes you lose yourself —the one person who should be receiving the most love of all.

Thank you for making me happy.

Even though there was an impending expiration date on our relationship, even though there were times when I couldn’t breathe for weeks on end, you made me happy. It’s really that simple and something I can’t deny because why would I? To base a terminated relationship solely on the ugly, would be unfair and untrue. So, thank you for the moments I treasured and still treasure, and the smiles sandwiched between my cheeks.

Thank you for letting go.

One of the hardest parts of a breakup is having the stale taste of what once was on your lips, still seeing its faded trace on your skin like pressing marks of white on a fresh sunburn. The whole concept of an ex is an uncomfortable, sticky mess. Knowing that two people — after spending so much time in each other’s lives — just aren’t compatible, just can’t fit together like they once thought they could, is a sad reality. It’s like having a pair of shoes that you thought were both size 7s and then realizing that one of them is actually a size smaller. Sometimes your significant other does not amount to the person you once knew them to be — all that you've talked them up to be. Can you go through life like this? Sure. Because sometimes the pain doesn’t resonate; sometimes that one foot will grow numb after being constrained for so long in a size too small. But after awhile you’d get fed up knowing that you need more than what your partner has to offer, or that in turn, you aren't the right fit for them. After awhile, everything would seem off balance, and eventually you’d realize something needed to change. So, thank you for accepting that change with time. Strangely, everything ends up working out because life does this peculiar thing where it gets better, always.

Thank you for making me realize my strength.

Realizing what I need in a relationship and realizing what does and does not work for me, took a lot out of me and took a lot of time. With love comes doubt — lots and lots of it — and no one should want to exist in a world where such darkness seems to always prevail. Being able to break free of a toxic situation made me that much more brave, made me realize my strength as a woman, something you didn't recognize in me for all that time. Your doubts drove me to find my courage. To put it simply, I know what I want, I’m happier now than I ever thought I’d be, and I guess, in a weird yet truly genuine way, I have you to thank for that.