What would you say to the one who got away?

The one that got away. The ex that you think about constantly. You imagine what it would be like if you were still together. Looking back, you might be glad to see the back of them, but usually the one who got away is the ex who you wish you had held onto. You probably ended the relationship on civil terms so they leave you wondering how things would have worked out if you had stayed together. You may still wonder if their happy now and be grateful for the time that you did spend together. However, after the break up it’s difficult to ever tell them how you feel now. We asked you to tell us what you would say to the one who got away:

Cathy

I’m sorry I couldn’t be what you needed. I’m sorry I wasn’t quite good enough. You’re a great guy. Just be happy please, that’s all I want.

Jessie

Unable to avoid the inevitable cliché I guess all I have left to say is thank you. For years you ran around my head as if it was yours to claim, and I won’t deny that I loved you. I know I can’t ever forget about you, when you kissed me a kaleidoscope of emotion swept me up like a hurricane, and it taught me that it is true to say anticipation is the highest form of pleasure.

Around you I was entirely aware of every inch of my person, you told me I was perfect and for the first time I felt it. Until you decided you’d had enough, shut the door and left me alone, upset crying at a bus stop too embarrassed to come home two hours earlier than I said I would. But, like a grown up, I stood up, dried my eyes and moved on. If it wasn’t for you, the one who got away, I would never have met the one who stayed.

Anna

After a year I’m still super bitter and would totally say fuck you and your pathetic new girlfriend.

Izzy

You always said i was a mystery but I always thought I said it all. Maybe we just didn’t try hard enough.

Maria

Everything happens for a reason and as much pain is caused, eventually something good comes out of it. Just when a caterpillar thinks their world is over, it turns into a butterfly.

Lauren

I’m not saying you’d only be your happiest when you were with me – just make sure you’re the same happy guy I fell in love with and not the scared, shut down person I first met. You deserve that happiness.

Frankie

First off, I should never have let you get away in the first place. You were perfect, WE were perfect. It was the happiest I’ve ever been, that time spent with you. Then you got away.

I tried to bring it back, retrieve what magic we had, but it was never the same and it’s never been, even now. There’s not much to say other than I wish I could rewind time and stop me from letting you go. I’ll never find anything like that again but, even so, thank you for that little burst of magic and contentment in my life.

Zoe

Read what I write. I write for myself but you are in the seams and bindings of every sentence I craft. You’ve gone but your presence still persists in my mind. I’m sorry I couldn’t see your honest intentions. I was petrified and all I longed for was freedom, but I did not know that I could find it in you and have both. This freedom has been the excuse for my making the same mistake over and over again, and this freedom is nothing but missing you.

You’ve always been my person and I just wish I could go back to those moments where you truly adored me simply for existing. I’m sorry that I kept my whole and full reciprocation of that adoration to myself, as if it was a state-secret. I don’t expect anything from you. I just hope that if you ever have a moment, you’ll spare it for me. I am so beyond grateful that you made room for me in your life. Know that wherever I am, you will always have a place with me.

Sunita

You don’t deserve to ever be forgiven for what happened that summer. Despite everything I love you even more for not sticking by someone who could throw you away so mindlessly, I’m glad you care enough about yourself to do that. I still love you and miss you.

Sam

If only you could see what I see. I saw a future, I still do. I never told you how I really felt as I thought it would scare you away but now you’re gone I can’t stop regretting not telling you that I love you. Maybe the timing was just wrong, maybe we were just wrong but I can’t help knowing that’s not true.

Jaz

You got away easy. You always get away with it easily. Because you’re you and everyone loves you no matter what wrong you do. I clung onto the little hope that you’d come back for so long and it was so stupid. Really stupid. You took me to dark places that haunted me for a long time and I wish never to return. But you took me to high places too, and it’s always those memories that are harder to forget.

They’re not forgotten, but I can now appreciate the things we experienced together and learn from them with no bad feelings. You were always fond of the present and the flow. Now I am flowing, I am stronger now than I’ve ever been before. I’m happy you got away.