A note to Von on our would've been 4 year anniversary

Von,
I want you to know I forgive you. I can finally say that and mean it. The way you did me was wrong and I shall never forget it, as I know I will not forget you. How could I? You were my one great love. The days we shared were the best I had ever known and I can say, with no hesitation, that I loved you with all that I had. I like to think you did too, while you could.

You lied. You cheated. You stole my trust, my soul and my heart...but I let you. Like a child you pushed to see what you could get away with, to see how far I would allow you to go. You took and you pushed and you nearly broke me. For a long time after you, I no longer believed in love. I thought love was nothing more than a bought of temporary insanity. I guess, in a weird way, it is.

The man you became is not the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with but I hope that you are happy and that someday you will be the man I believed you could be. I look at you now and wonder if I ever really knew you at all. At this point, it doesn't matter if I knew the real you or the you I wanted to know. All that matters is that I do believe that for everything that happens there is a reason. For every lost love, a lesson to be learned. It took me two long years to see what lesson you came with, what purpose you being a part of my life held. I can finally assess the situation with a more objective eye, without the shadow of heartache. For all that you did to me, for me and with me, I forgive you...and I thank you...for I would not be nearly the woman I am today if there had never been you.