Lately, I keep having dreams were my ex’s visit me. Sometimes they are just there in the dream and I know it. Sometimes they bring new girlfriends. Sometimes they ask my why I’m not marrying THEM. I’ve danced with them; they’ve tried to take me away. There’s no consistent theme other than they keep showing up.

The dreams don’t bother me—I’m not having cold feet and I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else. But it’s strange all the same. Almost like we must all visit each other one more time. Or really, I must visit them one more time. Can’t leave until you’ve said “adios.” Does everyone go through this? Or am I just sentimental? I know I have, in part, defined myself by who I was dating at the time, so in a way, it’s saying adios to earlier versions of me. But adios in the sense of setting aside or putting in an album. Who I have been, and who I have cared for . . . those things aren’t gone, but they are the past. It is a freeing thought.