Dear Ex,

There was a time that things were great with us. We were really good together. We spent our Saturdays going on adventures, cuddling watching cheesy Adam Sandler movies and baking in your kitchen. There was a time that we did nothing but laugh and smile when we were together. There was a time that I could not have been more in love with you if I tried. There was a time I thought that maybe, just maybe, my first love would be my last love, too. It would be you and I until we were old and gray.

And then, things went bad.

Long story short, you stopped caring, and I cared too much for the both of us. Then, you broke my heart. Not for the first time, I might mention. So many times I had given you the benefit of the doubt, taken you back and loved you like you had never hurt me. But this time was different. Mistakes were made. Words were said. However, there is one phrase that you said to me that will forever be embedded in my brain.

"You are trash. I will always see you that way."

Initially, this hurt me more than you could imagine. I sat alone in my room speechless, contemplating how to respond to something like that. I couldn't help but wonder when the, "I love you's," took such a turn for the worst. How did we get to this? Is this really the same guy that I fell in love with?

For what seemed like forever, your words got to me. I spent weeks feeling like absolute crap about myself. You took away any ounce of self confidence or self worth that I had left. You made me feel like I was useless to the world and everyone in it, and that all of my efforts to make you feel loved and appreciated were nonexistant. I was just a piece of garbage that you got tired of dealing with.

Then, one day I realized that you were wrong. I was spending so much of my time that I could've spent being happy, moving on, and accepting change, dwelling on a cruel few words that had spilled out of your mouth. You do not get to define me. My mistakes do not get to define me. I get to define me. And trash is not one of my definitive words. Strong, passionate, caring, and selfless are much more along my lines. Never again will I let someone, especially not a boy, tell me how I should see myself.

So, go ahead and be hurt. Cuss me out and call me trash. However, the truth is, I'm not trash and I don't deserve to be treated as such. You have no claim to me, my body, or my business because you chose to toss me aside again and again. What I do is no longer any of your concern. So yell at me all you want. Call me names and tell all of your friends about it. Then I'd suggest you go home, take a look in the mirror, and ask yourself if the person looking back at you is really the person that you want to be.

Oh, and don't forget to take the trash out.

Love,

Your "Trashy" Ex