A Couple Things I Learned While on a Camping Trip with My Ex

The Breakup Backstory

To start off, I will tell you why we broke up. This helps to set up the whole camping experience. (I’m going to call him Tate for easy reference.) So Tate and I had not really dated for all that long. We were only together for about two and a half months or so. Before we were dating we were really good friends—you would not really see one of us with out the other. After we got together this was still the case. We seemed to be really happy, then all of a sudden that changed.

I would try and go up to talk to Tate and whenever I did, he would walk away. It was not even like it subtly turned in to this. It was literally that one day he was nice and the next he would completely ignore me. You can probably guess that when this happened, I was super confused. That night I tried to text him and he had an excuse for why he could not talk. So this behavior went on for a couple of days and I was so tired of it. I went up to him and two of his friends that he was sitting with. They both talked to me, but he just gave me a sideways glance and did not even say “hi.” He barely even looked at me. That night I texted him again.

He answered and said he did not want to text at the time. So I called him. I am still surprised that he answered. Here is where “the ugly” comes in. I asked Tate what was up and he told me several things. He told me that he did not like me anymore, that I used to mean a lot to him but that I was actually just another girl. I was so upset. I had to leave but then I texted him and he told me that I was an embarrassment and that he did not really want to be associated with me. So I broke up with him that weekend (which happened to be right before Valentine’s Day).

After we broke up I found out that he actually thought that some of the people he promised me he did not like, he actually had a crush on and that he also wanted to ask one of my good friends to prom. Tate hated dances and he did not want to go with me, but he wanted to go with her. Then I watched them become best friends and I kinda stopped talking to her. It was rough and definitely not fun. I got over it, but everything was predictably awkward.

The Camping Trip

This camping trip is a school trip that I did not really want to go on because it was summer and I wanted to just sleep in. I went anyways. Walking up to the group the morning of, I was not super excited because my two best friends would not be there. When I got up to them, I saw Tate. I felt a little bit like I was suffocating in awkward. At that point I REALLY did not want to be there.

I went and said hi to some of the people I was friends with and went on as if Tate was not even there. He also did the same. He just hung out with that girl who he liked. A day went by without anything being overly awkward. It seemed like it was going to continue like that. For the most part it did. Then we played some game where we had to protect each other.

When you are protecting someone you had to be really close to them. It worked out to where he had to protect me. I just died instantly because he would not get close and I would not let him. That was about it for some awkward stuff.

That night we played a card game and it was down to three people. Me, Tate, and another guy. Anyways, I convinced Tate that I was not the bad guy and we won. Then he stood up to give me a high five then sat back down. That was awkward because everyone was watching. But overall, it was not bad.

What I Learned

(Of course there had to be “the good.”) So the moral of the story is that things can get better. Tate is one of the last people I would ever want to see but I did not let that get in the way of the fun I could have. Honestly, if you forgive and do not forget, you can save yourself some trouble and go through your life with out a complicated amount of awkward.

I do not think that we could ever reach friend level again, but I do not think that I would have to feel pain when I see him. He has issues to work out and I do too. So the main thing is that you should let yourself live, move on (even if it hurts) and keep trying with other people. Do not let one mistake rule over everything else.

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