Thank you, Natasha. Clearly I am struggling with acceptance. And I'll continue to. She is the person who most opened my life up, most saw and accepted me, challenged me most, and loved me most (as I experienced her). For years, I thought her experience of me was similar, until I was told it wasn't.

That's a lot to walk away from. Too much, for me, to put down to a lesson learned.

I may still have to, and I know that. I will accept whatever happens, and as I learn and understand more, I'm getting closer to your insights, which are clear in your response. Sometimes, two people are not the right two people for each other. At this moment, I am not sure whether we are those "not right" people, or two people whose positions along the "I-we" continuum vary and changed without being examined and shared, whose needs for space and togetherness vary and changed without being examined and shared. If it's the latter, I am willing and able to examine and share. Whether I can change enough is another question, one that she will have to answer.

Thank you for reading and responding with such real engagement, Natasha. I appreciate you.