It's the little things...

I remember a few semesters ago in my creative writing course how we talked about the importance of small actions. To be a good writer, you need to tell as much as you can by showing it through the actions and situations of your characters, instead of bluntly stating it. Through this you not only make the reader think, but you reveal the ambiguity that is part of life.

As I reflect on my recent breakup, it was the small things over the last few weeks that made me realize that something was not right.

It began about three weeks ago. I was sick with a cold and my girlfriend didn't want to get sick, so she wanted me to keep my distance so she wouldn't catch whatever I had, especially considering that her roommate was also sick. But even as I started to get a little better, the distance remained. I hoped that what I felt was only in my head, that it was just because I was still sick, but I knew better.

The one thing that spoke most to me was something very small. I have a ring that I wear with the phrase "True Love Waits". It was originally a promise ring that I had bought one for me and one for my first girlfriend. After storing it away for awhile I brought it back out and began wearing it again, as a personal promise to myself. For whatever reason, when her and I first started hanging out as friends, she had a knack for borrowing it and wearing it when we were around, and this continued up until a few weeks ago. At first when she refused my offer of the ring, I thought it might be because I was sick. But as the moments drew on, and she continued to refuse it, I knew something was going on.

It was that silence that spoke the most, even before the words finally left her mouth...