At the age of 21, the things in my life finally began to fall in place. I was homeless twice after graduating high school, attended many funerals of people I thought I’d have more time with, and my relationship with my family had begun sour so much that those bonds expired. At that time, I was in a relationship that began my sophomore year of high school, and though there were a few bumps in the road, justifiably so since we were so young, in my naiveness, I believed that it would just work itself out.
I remember waking up on the morning of my 22nd birthday with this newfound understanding of what it was that I’d want in terms of all of my interpersonal relationships. On that morning, upon opening my eyes, it was completely clear to me that the relationship I was in did not represent the way in which I wanted to live out the rest of my days. I don’t know what it was, maybe the time in which I’d spent reading and studying philosophy or maybe it was the feeling of remembrance for a close friend that had actually passed away in front of me on my birthday some years prior. That morning was filled with many “ aha “ moments as I looked around myself and took a full inventory of my life.
And as luck would have it, and I use the word “ luck “ loosely, my entire relationship would begin to crumble because on that day, on my 22nd birthday, it would become clear to me that I’d been loving someone who was no longer interested in attempting to maintain the very thing I thought we’d been building…
