I thought we would end up together.

I thought you were the one.

But we weren't a match.

You did teach me patience, pain, and love.

Thank you for helping me understand that I deserve better.

Thank you for helping me realize that okay isn't good enough:

I deserve the world.

I deserve someone who is willing to go the same lengths I am for them.

I deserve someone who isn't just "better than my ex"

I deserve someone who makes me happy.

I deserve someone who my friends and family love.

I deserve someone who doesn't make me feel bad.

Thank you for helping me understand what I need in a significant other.

Thank you for helping me realize that I shouldn't just hang with "your" friends.

I need to spend more time on myself, with my friends, with my family.

I deserve someone who is willing to try things for me.

Who is willing to stop doing things that hurt me.

Who is willing to do things for me.

Who is willing to compromise.

Who is HAPPY to do things that are "for me".

Who actually dances with me while we're out at the bars.

I deserve someone better than you.

I deserve someone who makes me happy all the time.

I deserve someone who doesn't cheat.

I deserve someone who has the same ideals as I do.

I deserve someone who has the same values as me.

Thank you for showing me little snip-its of what I deserve every once in a while.

Thank you for allowing me to grow with you.

I wish things turned out how we planned, but it is for the best.

Maybe if you were a little better we would still be ok, but you didn't try as much as I did.

Thank you for not taking that many pictures because that means it didn't take long to delete you out of my life.

Thank you for never getting me flowers because that means the right person (aside from my wonderful friends) will give me my first one just because

Thank you for never doing the little "I've been thinking of you" gifts. It makes it easier to not think of you.

Unfortunately, it's easier to remember the good than the bad.

But, I have the best friends here to remind me how many times you've made me cry, sad, or angry.

I have the memories of all the things I did for you, that you wouldn't reciprocate

I have the memories of you not standing up for me to your family, to allowing me to feel like absolute shit, to allowing others to talk down about things I've been through

When your uncle said that his friend only got sent to prison for beating his wife because it was a woman judge and no one understood how it's going to ruin his life; you didn't stand up for me. I squeezed your hand so hard almost to tears because I WISH I had that with my rape. He was saying he didn't believe her, what so many said to me. He didn't understand that he ruined her life forever, not just 9 years. If only you said that the emotional toll that leads on a woman is way longer than 9 years then maybe we would still be together.

I have the people around me to remind me that you weren't good for me.

I have my family and friends telling me "you deserve better"

And, they are right.

I hope you find someone who is right for you. Who treats you as you treat them.

Thank you for the time we spent together, I learned a lot.

I am thankful for my ex.

Thank you, next.