Dear Melissa:

Reads to me like you are going in the right direction and this is why you are feeling a more refined sense of clarity, as you put it. Settling on your decision to contact your ex not out of anger sounds good to me. Healing and cultivating a sense of peace- yes, yes, yes. And you opening up and discovering more about James. Good stuff.

All this put a distance between how you were (similar to your friend yesterday) and how you are now.

Interesting info about your ex, seeing his life in the context of a short story perhaps. There is a surprise element needed in a short story to keep the reader interested… the writer somehow leading the reader to that surprise event but not spelling it out so it is still a surprise. Wondering.

anita