Thank you for a great piece written with a lot of wisdom and grace. I lived with my ex-husband for many years and once that ended, I was very clear on how important my own space was. I'm partnered with someone now for 2.5 years and he lives across town. When we get together, it's incredibly sweet, wonderful and high quality. Neither takes the other for granted. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to live together but - I'm not in a hurry (why fix what isn't broken?) - it would have to be with AMPLE space.

I think a lot of us don't realize how co-dependent we are and how much of our culture and upbringing conditions us in this way.