I’m going to keep this short as there is not much to say. Imagine building an entire life with and around another person. You’re fine with it because your career earns you flexibility. You both discuss everything together, consume the same cultural artifacts, raise a family and spend every night hearing each other sleep. You see this person everyday. You grocery shop on the weekends in a Whole Foods. At times, you think, “There is no way I’m not dying with this person.”

Then eventually, after the inevitable (caused by most of the common reasons echoed here), you realize that you are in an empty apartment. Half your shit is gone. Your kids are gone. You are alone. You don’t really know who you are anymore. There is just perpetual silence for months on end. None of your “friends” talk to you anymore. You’re in a city you never wanted to live in if you’re honest with yourself. Her uncle still calls because you are like a son to him and he secretly hates the family. It reminds you of her every time.

You feel like everything you’ve done for her was taken for granted. You kind of feel conned, but you know this logic is unfair as she wasn’t completely the problem. Both of you played a part, although you know in the back of your mind, the absence of a “person” within a woman that is supposed to be your soulmate is not there. Maybe she was never there.