Can you ever really forget someone you once loved?

[Anonymous]

No if it was real love. I am happily married but think of my college love very often.

[Anonymous]

Yep.

I don't think about anyone I dated in the past. I think about certain things one of my ex did that were very nice, but I don't remember his face. I think about these things as if I read about them in a novel.

Love happens in the head for me. When I have moved on, I have moved on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My answer is no, except I am wondering exactly what you mean by “forget.” You can think of them fondly but no longer love or want to be with them.

Does the OP mean "move on"? I haven't forgotten my preschool teachers. If I forgot people from my past, maybe I'd need to get checked for memory loss.

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:no. even someone i don't think of every day will still appear in my dreams.

I’m in the same boat and it sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no. even someone i don't think of every day will still appear in my dreams.

I’m in the same boat and it sucks.

Me too. But I gave into it. He isn’t part of my life and hasn’t been for decades. I love my husband and if my college guy comes back to me in my dreams I can’t do anything about it. I went for a few years not thinking about him much, but a pandemic midlife crisis brought him back as I reprocessed our awful break up.

He was a huge part of my first steps into adulthood and his imprint is indelible at this point. I think he will always ebb and flow in my thoughts/dreams to some extent.

[Anonymous]

Literally forget? Only with dementia. Get to the point where you go long stretches without thinking about them (and when you do it’s without pain)? Yes.

I do reflect on my significant relationships in the past, but that’s just me - not everyone does that. My interest is more in myself at different stages in my life, rather than the person I was with - what I learned, how I’ve changed, etc. The broken hearts I experienced have healed.

[Anonymous]

Also - now that I’m solidly in middle age, obviously I’ve literally forgotten most of the details of those long ago relationships; I can only recall the highlights, but they are wispy, like a dream. But I have not forgotten these people exist, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also - now that I’m solidly in middle age, obviously I’ve literally forgotten most of the details of those long ago relationships; I can only recall the highlights, but they are wispy, like a dream. But I have not forgotten these people exist, no.

With exes, I remember meeting, the breakup, and a couple of sexual tidbits, but nothing else.

[Anonymous]

How about the flip side? For one of my exes, I hope he met a wonderful woman, lived happily ever after, and forgot that I even exist. He deserved to be treated better than I did.

[Anonymous]

I want to forget him.

I will see him tonight at mutual friends house tho

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also - now that I’m solidly in middle age, obviously I’ve literally forgotten most of the details of those long ago relationships; I can only recall the highlights, but they are wispy, like a dream. But I have not forgotten these people exist, no.

With exes, I remember meeting, the breakup, and a couple of sexual tidbits, but nothing else.

I remember everything. From the moment we met to the glances we exchanged seared into memory.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends how old you were, how long the relationship lasted, and who ended it it. Tougher to forget formative year relationships in teens and early 20s and especially hard to forget if you were the one who was broken up with.

[Anonymous]

One was really well endowed so it’s hard to forget about him. Certain things you can’t forget but I’m very happy with my DH of 22 years.

[Anonymous]

I’ll always love my ex husband! I don’t care how it sounds