Red Bike

I've never had a romantic relationship come from dating someone( as stranger) I've always formed romantic relationships with friends, or friends of a friend. To tell the truth, the few dates with strangers I've been on I really hated. I went on one blind date, and it was a nightmare pretty much from the jump. And it made me seriously question the friend who had set it up. My most recent ex was not only a friend, but one of my BEST friends for over eight years. We saw each other almost daily, saw each other at our best, and our worst. When we first met, he had a bright red BMX bike that he rode everywhere! I never learned to ride a bike as a kid, and I learned how to ride a bike on that very BMX. We spent hours talking. I haven't owned a television set in over ten years, and back in the day I didn't own a computer, so when my friends came over to hang out, we actually hung out. Like, sat around and talked. This was also in the lovely time before I phones and smart phones and androids and apps, so people weren't  glued to their phones. Anyway, I'm saying all of this to say that D and I were as close as close can be. I always felt like he found me interesting. That's why so many things came as a shock in our relationship. We spent hours talking. He would hang out with me when I was a drunk mess, and I can only imagine what that was like. And yet I always felt like he thought I was so cool, and so interesting. When we first made the leap from friendship to more than friends, not much changed, other than you know, sex. I still felt that same connection, only deeper. I can't pinpoint exactly when things seemed to change, but at some point it just seemed like he had heard all he needed to hear from me. We had become one of those bored with each other old couples before our time. The more he ignored, the harder I tried. He had every reason in the world for not listening. It always blamed me in some way. I walked in the room when he was playing a video game, so it's not his fault, because I should have waited for his undivided attention. The problem was there wasn't a time when he wasn't playing a video game. I had somehow managed to live my entire life without dating a "gamer", and let me tell you something, I was lucky. If and when I date anyone again, if any type of video game is ever mentioned, I am out of there.
I will never know the answer as to why this happened. I don't know which one of us changed so drastically, or if it was both, or neither. He never acknowledged that it was a problem. Or, I guess he never acknowledged that it was maybe a little bit of a problem with him. It was always put on me. Towards the end of things, he said that he simply didn't care about veganism, vegan food, politics or world events, and that was that.  He became the kind of boyfriend who he would have made fun of, and told me I was way too good for when we were friends. It's a very strange thing to try to figure out.
I thought for sure that we would have made it for the long haul. We knew each other so well, flaws and all. We had seen each through various relationships and break-ups, we just knew each other, and respected each other. There was a period of time that I believe we could have broken up, and maybe after we healed we could have remained friends. But at this point, our friendship is a distant memory to me. Way too much damage was done. I have dated my share of frogs, but never has anyone so aggressively ignored me, and my feelings. It wasn't like I kept it a secret that this was a deal breaker for me. It was easier for him to walk away from me, than to show interest in anything that matters to me. That's a very bitter pill to swallow, but i am working very hard to not take it personal.
I will always have the fondest memories of the boy with the red bike.
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" Dr. Suess