25 Stories From Women Who Broke Up With The One

4.

“Suspend disbelief with me for just a minute. At the age of 28, I still firmly believe that I was meant to marry my high school sweetheart — to date, he still checks all the boxes when we were high schoolers/college students. But my senior year, he had a brain tumor rupture while we were out on a date. Had to do CPR, call 911, and all that. He spent a month in PICU after having a good chunk of his brain removed, and he had to go to rehab to learn how to walk and talk again. His parents made us break up. As an adult, I totally understand why — he needed to focus on recovering, and I needed to focus on my life in case he didn’t survive. If it were my kid today, I’d probably do something similar.”

“But their whole family turned inward, quit socializing, and gave minimal updates on his condition, and the whole thing was wildly traumatic. But he was perfect as they come, and my parents have held every other boyfriend (of mine and my sisters’) to his scale. He died three years later when I was dating the man I married, who was in the room when I got the call that my previous boyfriend passed. Later, told me that was the moment he knew he could propose and stand a chance of getting a yes because my ex would never be an option.

We were married for seven years before I requested a divorce six weeks ago. I wasn’t sad about the divorce at all, to be honest, but sad about other life things. I’m in therapy and working through everything. Like I said, I’m 28 now, and I’m still convinced I would have married him if not for cancer. It wasn’t just puppy love. I miss my past boyfriend — he was such a great guy all around and the world is worse off without him in it.”

—u/jnseel