Bar Raised

I did a really excellent thing the other day.

I ended a relationship.

Well, I think in the future we’ll agree that I just called out our friendship as the friendship that it is and cancelled the romantic effort we had layered on top of it.

I saw this post today and fell in love with it.

This last relationship taught me what it feels like to be cared for like this.

I’m so grateful for it.

Last night I was talking to a friend about this experience.

I told her that it was a hard decision to make because this guy was so caring, he’s such a wonderful partner in a way I’ve never felt from a person I was dating before.

She made me feel so wonderful about it.

She said that’s exactly what dating is for. You meet people and learn from them what you need and what you can’t stand. And then you know to look for those things in the future. You can learn how you need to be treated from your relationship with Tom, what you’re attracted to from Dick and what you can’t live without from Harry. Then you find someone who has enough of those things to be your partner.

So I consider this whole thing a huge success.

Because now I know what it feels like to be looked at like this. And that bar is raised forever.