happened years earlier. It had happened every time I quietly accepted being treated as background instead of as a partner.
The actual decision to walk away, when it finally came, felt almost peaceful. It was like setting down a heavy bag I had been carrying for so long that I had forgotten how heavy it actually was.
I poured myself into my work and into the parts of my life I had quietly neglected. I reconnected with old friends, took a few weekend trips I had always postponed, and remembered
