Goodbye

I was asked the other day by a friend, how do you walk away from a long time relationship?  To be honest, I am the wrong person to give advice.  I stayed in a relationship for years even though I knew for many years I should have walked away.  I endured a bad situation so that my children would be raised in a home with two parents.  Thinking that was the ideal situation, since I grew up in a home with a single parent.  In reality it was the worst thing I could have done.  My children lived in a home with two parents, yes, who constantly argued,  yelled, and disrespected each other.  Now I know I was doing them more damage than good, because I was afraid of letting go. 

I thought to myself how could I start over after so many years of being with this one person, so I forced myself to keep the peace and try to work things out over and over.  In my heart knowing things were over, it was just so difficult to say goodbye.  I felt guilty about being the one to break up my family. Wondering will my children resent me?  

Knowing that it was time to end with all the chaos of a failed relationship, but how do I walk away?  Here I am 24 years later standing in the same place. Dealing with the same bullshit!

Have you ever had to walk away?