Zhana

The nightclubs in Nikolaev, and those incredible, intimate times in Odessa. Maybe she was the right choice to be my wife?

Did I spoil my chance at happiness and contentment by letting her go? Was this the biggest mistake of my life?

Elsa

Someone truly special — my high school love. Only now, in my later years, do I fully appreciate how special she was.

Ina

Married for five years. The misalignment was clear from the very beginning — I was wilfully blind, and she neither appreciated nor understood that.

Natasha

What an incredibly beautiful woman, and so deeply devoted to me — yet the misalignment in the most critical areas proved fatal.

She could very well have become my wife… and would those misalignments have mattered? Because now, I find myself dealing with far more extreme versions of them.

Marietjie

A wonderful person on so many occasions, yet the deeply rooted selfishness was devastating. Even today, her unwillingness to be more open about certain fundamental aspects — things that would have helped me understand and finally find peace — remains one of the most painful parts of my life.

A simple, honest conversation would change nothing of what has been, but it would allow my mind to rest.

Oksana

A wonderful woman, but unfortunately the time we spent together was not sufficient. She could have been my wife, but the time and opportunity were not there to truly determine its feasibility.

Liesl

Wonderful times with her — but unfortunately, the deep shadow cast by her mother placed a severe damper on what could have been.

As an adopted child, her mother could not fully appreciate the impact of that, nor how gaining certainty about where she came from might have changed the quality of her life — not her circumstances, nor her relationship with her adoptive parents.

Lena

It became clear to me early on that there were misalignments in certain areas — especially in the one most important to me.

I had been in other relationships where the alignment was good, but the deeper feelings — those that truly draw you to someone — were absent, and unfortunately those relationships did not work out in the end.

Here, however, the “butterflies,” that clear and deep attraction, were strong from the very beginning. I chose to continue the relationship despite the obvious misalignments, convincing myself that the depth of the emotional bond would compensate for them.

That was a fatal mistake, and I am paying dearly for it. The result of these misalignments — particularly in the area most important to me — has been a gradual fading, almost a disappearance, of those deep inner emotional feelings.

Karin

The emotional scars from the trauma in her life — the result of a serious vehicle accident and multiple brain surgeries — unfortunately endured, and their impact grew stronger as the relationship continued.

Although the physical and emotional attraction was very strong in the beginning, it gradually faded over time as a result of these deep emotional wounds. I do not know whether she will ever be able to sustain a continuous and meaningful relationship, nor what ultimately became of her.

Liesbet

It was a relationship that began after an extremely difficult year marked by an on-off relationship with Marietjie — filled with deceit and a lack of clear, honest answers, despite what I could clearly see.

In that sense, it helped me finally make a clean break and let go of the false hope that things would return to normal. It brought companionship, intimacy, and a return to some level of stability.

I still had my own serious issues to deal with, which affected the relationship, but it did not make it meaningless. It was something we both benefited from — though, over time, that benefit diminished, the relationship ran its course, and eventually came to an end.