Photo courtesy of Gotye.
We’ve narrowed it down to our three favorite stories, and now it’s time for you to decide. Read through our top three picks and vote for who you think has the best breakup story. The voting period ends at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17. The winner will receive a pair of tickets to the Aug. 25 Gotye show at the Riverside. Thanks to all who submitted their stories of heartbreak (or heartbreaking).
The Top Three
1. 1. I won’t use real names for this, but all of what I’m about to write is real. I found my college sweetheart during my junior year of college (Sara). She was a woman that I tried to court for about a year during my sophomore year, but without much success. Every now and then, I’d take a step forward, only to fall back two more. The real setback was back in September 2003 (start of my junior year) when we really hit it off well, only to find out she was more interested in a friend of mine at the time. All of this is important context for the real twist near the end. Any way, come December of that year, things turned around again, and by January (when another girl starting showing interest), Sara and I officially became a couple. We had two great years in college, and then we both accepted journalism jobs (mine in Wausau, hers in Janesville). Since Janesville was a better opportunity, I told her I would work to get a job there. Three months into the Wausau job, a spot opening in Janesville, but I wasn’t fully qualified. So we played the waiting game again. This lasted about two years (constant driving back and forth to visit each other on weekends). This far along, we were looking at rings and I had plans to get engaged to her on Sept. 6, 2008 (some more context, this was exactly five years to the exact date of when we spent our first night together – sleeping over that is, and the day I attribute to me falling in love with her). Any who, it’s March 2008 and another spot opens up (her good friend at the paper, Brian, takes a job in Green Bay). I apply for the job, much more qualified this time around, and am in the running. Finally, things are in position and it looks like the angst is over. Then Sara sits me down, and tells me she has strong feelings for Brian, feelings that she’s harbored for the past two years in Janesville working with him. I try to see if there’s any hope for us, and she isn’t sure. Needless, to say, on April 14, 2008, she broke up with me and started a new long distance relationship with Brian. A year later, he moved back to Janesville, and later got engaged to her. So, long story short, all that fighting to win her over and all that patience was rewarded temporarily. Hard to say if its better to love and lose or to never love at all. Either way, that’s my story.
–DJSlater
2. 2. I used to be best friends with a girl I knew since second grade. Through that time till college, we’ve always been in some sort of contact, even had feelings for each other in middle school and possibly in high school. I think we both had anger issues and later in life took it out on each other. We’ve always found some way to come back to each other but as the years went by, it seemed to drift away farther and farther, which is ironic since we kept in contact wirelessly. Then all of a sudden she decided she rather close ties with me. I hope it doesn’t remain like this for long.
– Flipnote87
3. 3. Well, it all started when I was in the fifth grade. Zach was my first boyfriend and as you can guess besides for pulling my pigtails there wasn’t much of a relationship there when your only nine. I remember one morning as we entered school Zach walked in right in front of me and I was furious that he didn’t hold the door open for me. So that weekend, I went with my family and my best friend Katie to a cabin up north. While Katie and I listened to Nysnc in our room and created dances to all the songs, I decided I needed to end it with Zach that instant. So Katie and I got real close to the phone, called Zach’s home number and got the answering machine. Did I hang up? Oh no, I thought it would be best to leave a break-up message for his entire family to listen to when they got home. How cruel! Come Monday Zach and I were like strangers again. But almost fifteen years later and he is one of my best friends today and we still laugh about that message! (His mom thought I was the cutest for doing that by the way!)
– Dequaine
