The outcome called for analysis. I’m a big fan of analysis, especially with a righteous train wreck like we were. I even wrote a piece on our last day, just to get a grip on what had happened. Shared it with people I trust to have them shake their heads too. Analysis can be an effective pain killer.

The pain went away rather quickly, perhaps because I had worked so hard to be both a mensch and a stoic while you packed your stuff. Seeing so clearly we were never meant to last probably helped. There was more than a little relief about the end of hostilities.

Years later I saw my initial analysis was both overwrought and incomplete. The main thing I chose not to put up with: you liked yelling more than you liked me.