I went to pastry school because I loved to bake. I never planned to open my own bakery; I thought I'd just work for an established place, but it sort of fell in my lap, and of course, once my ex saw the potential, he pushed to keep on going. And I let him. I let his belief carry me along, in the absence of faith on my own. It wasn't all bad, but I did constantly felt like I was not enough for him, and that he forever needed me to push to achieve more and be better and make a larger and ever-larger mark on the world.

And sometimes we need that push in order to have faith in ourselves. And sometimes it makes us feel like we will forever fall short of the mark. Sometimes both.

My and I have not spoken since the final divorce decree, nor do I have desire to. I did hear through the grapevine that he was regretting it and said he'd "made a huge mistake," but I'm not sure what that references (nor do I particularly care).