Hi @Blaise and @Gladys and everyone..
I had posted here a few days ago and found the advice very helpful, especially the intelligent words from Blaise. I cannot fathom the inner strength that Gladys has to deal with the issue as directly as she does.
An update on my situation: Yesterday, in a low blood sugar induced (seriously) moment I sent her what I thought was a fairly benign text, simply “what happened to us?”.
I had not texted her in the two months since she suddenly ended the relationship, at the time simply stating her feelings had changed. She was very blunt and didn’t hold back at the time, and she didn’t respond to my next several texts. I was, and still am, obviously devastated.

I thought, or hoped, that maybe she was just frightened by what she may have perceived as a change in her independence by her life changing-she just received her MBA, we had started looking at rings…until yesterday.

She responded to my text, but not in the way I wanted or even expected. She was surgical, brutally honest. She said our three years together was a mistake, and that she had nothing but unhappy memories from our time together. She said she had never been happy in our relationship, and there was no chance for any kind of reconciliation, and didn’t want any contact from me ever again (as we work in the same place, passing in the hallway is inevitable).

So now more than my pain of losing her, I have to accept that I never made her happy during our time together. I was worried that the age difference between us might have been a factor (I am considerably older) , but that never appeared to bother her. She has everything going for her-beautiful, brilliant, and witty. I honestly think she hurt me more yesterday than when she left, maybe its because I now know and have to accept there is no hope, but more so that I could give her the happiness she so deserves. Thanks everyone.