” I’ve always been able to navigate the seas of misery without too much trouble – the worst heartbreak of course was losing Sam, and then my dad, but they existed under the radar and inside the defenses. It goes without saying those key losses would be devastating. But I thought I was invulnerable after that. I thought no one could possibly hurt me. I was ready to feel truly and deeply again. Well now I do feel truly and deeply… hurt. And maybe that was a lesson in hubris.
I don’t so much feel angry that she would reach out and only THEN discover her inability to engage in this. I feel more like my faculties were somehow inadequate and failed to warn me of it.”
–Blogger Todd Downing, on finding love and having it not work out, after serious earlier losses (like losing his wife).