The Love That Changed Me

A story of surrender, growth, and finding grace in a heartbreaking goodbye.

Last night I slid into a small two-top table in the back corner of our favorite little Italian restaurant and ordered a Negroni. I wore the dress he always loved. My stomach curled into knots, my hands suddenly shaky, my skin clammy from the heavy summer air that hung in the non-air-conditioned dining room.

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It had been two weeks since we’d had the hard conversation that led to our heartbreaking realization that we are in two very different stages of life. This wasn’t news to either of us. From our first date, we knew—he was a single dad with three young kids, and I was on the cusp of becoming an empty nester. Ten years of life stage stretched between us, an obstacle we both understood from the beginning might eventually be too much to navigate while still giving each of us what we truly need.