My fondest high school memory is of my relationship with my ex boyfriend. As much as this may sound boring to talk about a high school boyfriend it is not as cliché as you think. I have to say this experience truly changed and molded me into the person I am today. We dated off and on for 3 years and were together since we were both 15. He was my first true love and of course I thought we would stay together through it all. We had both had a crazy childhood; his father had abused him and his mother was never around long enough to give him the attention he needed. My mother is bipolar and my parents divorced when I was young. We could both relate and had the same attitude toward high school: one big drama scene. We just thought we could handle bigger and better things. But that attitude got in the way. Soon he felt he was better than everyone, even me.  I finally could not take his repetitive badgering and arrogant personality. We continued a cycle of dating and breaking up.  We gave it one last shot and I thought this time it was really going to work. But as much as we loved each other there was no denying how different our desires were.   I wanted to go to school and he didn’t. He wanted me to stay. Suddenly everything I wanted was stupid. Now I should have listened to the ones who truly cared about me instead of pleasing just one person who was putting me down for the way I lived my life. I couldn’t believe how this one person who made me so happy could make me so sad just like that. All along I put myself through it because I believed I would never find anyone better. But after our final breakup, I was done completely. I wanted to move on and explore who I really was. I knew in my heart he was also trapped, insecure and unhappy, and I had to let him break free.  I understand now it was a deeper issue that I could not control but I can proudly say that our relationship affected me. It really allowed me to grow up. It helped me gain insight to people’s true colors and now I won’t ever let anyone try to bring me down. I am strong and no matter what I know the person I am and want to be in my life.