I told you guys that this past Sunday I was doing the Ugly Sweater Run with my most recent ex man friend. Friends and family were equally parts skeptical and supportive that we can just be friends.

And ya know what? It was fine. We were fine. Things went well and I’m glad. There were a few moments where if either one of us would have said “F this,” and moved in for a kiss it would have been ON! but it didn’t happen. And I’d like to think its because I have exceptional willpower! Trust me, there were too many moments of being too close together (friends shouldn’t hug and hold each other for THAT long, right? That’s what I thought.) Things could have been VERY different. 

A photo of us before the Ugly Sweater Run: Don’t we look so pretty? I love the hats!

Interesting things:

• He asked me how I am, then his follow up question is if I am dating anyone. I told him no and that I thought I had the holiday blues. His followup to that was if I was blue because I don’t have a gentleman caller to take home to meet my family? I said no, just blue. I thought his line of questioning was funny. Clearly, he still cares. 
• After the run, we saw a guy I dated this past spring. I avoided him and skirted around him. Awkward! Ex Man Friend said, “all of Melissa’s ex boyfriends should remain single the rest of their lives.” I said, no, I never said it. This was just one of the guys that ghosted me. Strange.
• He posted a picture of us at the run on Facebook. His brother in law texted his dad (who doesn’t have FB) and said “Ex Man friend posted a picture of himself and the girl he’d gotten pregnant.” That was supposed to be a joke…that that was how he told him family-by posting a picture. But I took it as I looked fat. He felt awful and kept hugging me and telling me how beautiful and attractive I am. That went on for awhile. He felt bad. I told him he was working to undo about 15 years of me being messed up in the head and it wasn’t going to go away in 5 minutes of him telling me these things. Sigh.

It was good. Good to see him, and good to be friends. And that’s all it is. That’s all I can handle. He’s a dear friend and while it has taken me about a month to “get over it” I think I finally am. 

And you know what? That’s freakin’ awesome! 🙂