Dunzo

8th Grade Joey and I are over. 
That was the in-my-head nickname for him because I was never quite sure what was going on. Similar to when you're in middle school and like someone but everything's all mixed up because that's how 13 and 14-year-olds roll. All those feelings and no clue how to act on them.
Anyway, 8th Grade Joey was my post-divorce thing. My first "thing" in 20 years if you count the marriage stuff. It went on for about 2 years. That's a long time to feel like a clueless middle schooler. 

I'll spare you the details but I'm the one who walked away. As scary as "alone" sounds, it's better than being with someone and not feeling appreciated. 

I won't dwell on it, and I certainly won't whine too much here (I hope). I'm just very, very sad because I know things could be different. But they aren't different, which is why I made the choice to cut bait. 

So I guess there's a small victory in recognizing something isn't right and doing something about it. I just wish I didn't have to walk away to make it right.

The good news for y'all is that now I have all this time for self reflection. And that's when things get amusing.

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