Dear Leah:

You are very welcome and thank you for being appreciative, gracious and kind… as well as so very intelligent and insightful. I am glad to read that you will come back here whenever you need!

“It’s still hard for me to believe that this wasn’t as meaningful to him as it was to me“- Maybe one reason it couldn’t be as meaningful for him is that you were his 4th relationship, and he was your 1st. Reads to me though that the relationship was very meaningful to him.

“I have the regret of feeling like NOW I know what we should’ve done better, but it’s too late“- let’s say you that you could roll back the clock and live with him with what you know now: there would still be ingredients to the relationship that would be out of your control, ingredients that would  likely bring the relationship to an end at one point or another (I say likely because most romantic relationships end, particularly at your age). His troubled experience growing up with his mother is one such ingredient. (No one gets to roll back the clock to anyone’s childhood and fix what happened there!).

“I will do my best to focus on my own growth and take some space from him. I hope with time, and with finding out more things about myself and bettering myself, I will attract someone with whom I can share my life with – whether that’s him or someone new” – he or that someone new will be very fortunate to share a life with a woman who does her best to focus on her own growth, to keep learning and bettering herself!

anita