6 months. She was excited and looking forward to it. Even though, I generally don’t support lying, in this case I lied and said I was happy for her. At the risk of sprouting off an overused cliché, the reality was that the news hit me like a ton of bricks (I guess I should find some other analogy, but I think you can cut your old man some slack since he is dying). One of my few sources of light was about to be extinguished. 

Prior to leaving, she did text and emailed me a number of times to make sure I was doing OK. I was a bit despondent at the time and didn’t respond to her attempts to contact me. After her departure, I lost all contact with her. I came to the conclusion I royally screwed things up and that was most likely the end for us.

Unbeknownst to me,...

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