How do you suppose a relationship will play out, when one feels as if they might get left behind by the other?

When I was 12 years old, my father moved away to pursue another job. I was initially proud of his heroic choice. Yet, he was gone for long periods of time, and it became more and more difficult for me, at that age, feeling like I was left behind. It bubbled within and it erupted without, at unexpected times, disguised, always, at a young age, as many different things…

Carrying that early experience over and over and over again throughout my life, this feeling of being left behind, has illuminated a pattern, woven deep into the fabric of who I am, and how I navigate each and every relationship.

I know my brilliant therapists here within the collective will offer advice: to me – and I welcome it – heck, it’s free, sort of, yet, I think, honestly, I am really asking this question in hopes of exploring the landscape of the subject, collectively, through truthful tales of how this aspect of a relationship has played out for others. Annoying little twinges rippling just beneath the apparent calm masquerading on the surface, to fully loaded adrenaline moments, etched forever in your history – and anywhere and everywhere in between.