“It embarrasses and humiliates me even now, the lengths I went to try and keep him interested, deathly afraid of being abandoned and discarded.”

I know what that feels like. You are so very much not alone in this. And I salute you for your honesty in sharing this searingly painful, beautifully articulated piece.

The heavy feeling in your midsection telling you to step away? That’s the one I pray you’ll listen to, to the exclusion of the other one.