My last relationship mutually ended when I found out I was going to spend a year in the midwest. It ended on this beautiful high note. The relationship was over not because we discovered something unbearable in the other and it was time to move on, or because there was greener grass to be found in someone else. It ended because we're young and uncommitted, as beautiful and fulfilling as we find each other to be, and I had to move from the east coast to a hole in Iowa for my job, a field team leader for Americorps.

My previous relationships were more utilitarian than I'd probably admit while in the thick of them. A lot of relationships are. I know I've loved before and meant it in my highest, individualized capacity, but after the smoke clears, as it has since being single for a while, I feel that I'm capable of even higher feelings. Kleinbl00 somewhere said you shouldn't be in a relationship to fill a hole in yourself, you must first be so full of whoever you are that you're spilling over the brim and have loads to share, so that giving is easy yet you find that it activates this other person in a profound way.

edit: Oh, and you asked as to how that particular relationship with Terry Bisson's niece (I know I said Terry Bisson was her grand uncle, he was actually just her uncle) ended: Terry Bisson's sister, my ex's mom, is angelic in her gratitude and love and skill with the French horn. Her daughter didn't seem to very much appreciate it, or appreciate much when I think about it. A fundamental lack of empathy. It had to end because I couldn't be around her anymore.