Did I dream? I did. 

My nephew came to me for relationship advice. Some excerpts:

"You're setting up a conflict in which someone wins and someone loses. There's not always a right or wrong. And if there is, sometimes you have to let someone be wrong. Because being right is enough."

"Yes, and that is your burden. At this point, you want to say these things so you feel better. Even though it won't make anything better. Probably worse." 

"You're not letting go, not really. You're going to alter your behavior to gain some small peace of mind."

"If you did get back together, you're likely going to be just as stressed and unhappy because the two of you don't have a way to communicate."

"It's hard to make progress in a relationship when the person can't think about themselves and why they do what they do."

"So you're not letting go, you're choosing a different kind of unhappiness. One with more potential. Yes, you've tried all you can. All that you can that might actually work. There's probably long-shot stuff you can do, but it probably won't work and just make everyone think you're crazy. Because that kind of stuff only works in the movies."

This is a little out of context, since half of the dialogue is missing. I've been thinking of scanning in my old high school journals for my own reference. I remember the though process pretty well. Romantic ideas are odd because they still tend to expect that people are purely rational. I would have to refine it and say that yes, they are generally rational; just not good at understanding the true cost of things. Like if you got paid five bucks a day to only take freezing cold showers. Might sound like easy money, but when you're hungover and need to get ready for work on a winter morning, no amount is probably enough.

We're not always who we think we are going to be.

I think I'll start bringing my lunch to work again. Some rice, some beans. See how that affects me, and then go from there. Mmm...lunch.