I Was Wrong
Coming out of a long relationship feeling alone
For years I worked in an industry where my friends always moved away in pursuit of better jobs, and over the years, I found myself alone, in a place without allies. Then, I ended a long relationship and drove out of town with my head down, into an unknown future, all the way across the country, in a place I had never been.
I’ve never felt so alone as I did for the first few weeks. But, I owe a thank you to my boys. It seems weird to me to say that because I’ve never felt like the kind of dude who has a posse of homeboys, but they’ve come out to remind me they’re here.
My boys all live far away, in places like Minnesota and North Dakota and California, so we don’t get to hang out together, ever, but I have felt their companionship and support over the distance.
My boys know who they are, and if they’re reading this, I hope they know what their support has meant to me. One of them came out of a yearslong estrangement in our friendship to apologize (unnecessary) and express admiration for what I’m doing in this new life. You don’t know what it meant to me.
When I’ve been down, somehow the phone knew to ring. And one of these guys was on the other end. And conversations would go on for three or four hours. To be clear, we’re the kind of male…
