For 2 years and up

I was privy to knowledge that 2 long-term couples that I sort of know have just up and broken up. One is a co-worker and her boy of 3+ years, and the other is a really good friend with his girl of 2.5 years.

This kind of turns mine and SunMoon's long-term relationship theory on its side.

Not to sound like scientists, but after we broke down all the information we've gathered from experiences and other peoples' experiences and peoples' dating experiences that have been relayed to us, we realized that a lot of the relationships we knew about had a trial run of 2 years.

People are cool with one year, but when you get to that 24th month things all of a sudden heat up, things need more definition and neither party notices this. Perhaps, all of a sudden you have one partner feeling blah about the relationship. Key question here is: where does each partner see the relationship on the 25th month?

Yeah, 2 years. Some people freak and run for the hills, while others work it out. A lot of people I've known have broken up around the 2 year mark. A lot. Those who have survived past the 2 years are clearly marked "winners." I can't imagine those couples splitting anytime soon.

Hence my surprise at learning about these 2 friends all of a sudden entering back into the single life. Apparently, there was no fights, just discussions with the s.o.'s. Very heartfelt stuffs, no hard feelings or harsh words exchanged. My goodness, these were mutual, mature breakups that just went down!

In fact, the couples still talk to one another. Hell, my co-worker and her new ex were shopping together today. It's as if nothing happened between them. They're just chill like that.

My friend, on the other hand, is a tad bummed. I wish I could hug him, bake him cookies, keep him company....something. He kinda lives too far away for that, though. But he still talks with his ex, too.

Which completely begs the question: why did these couples breakup?

Alright, yeah, both parties mutually split. The one couple still seems like a couple (they've always been really good friends.) And my friend's relationship, while they're still talking, both seem pretty sad. Why would they opt to part and both be sad than just stay together and NOT be sad? *sigh* I thought they were it already. 2 and a half years together with the same girl. And not just any girl. Compared to his past girlfriends this girl fit him so well. They seemed to have a lot of stuff in common. And trust me, with this guy being as eclectic as he is, a girl that can share a majority of his likes is super rare.

At least it's not like some ugly divorce. That's another thing I can't understand, how after years and years and years 2 people decide that they cannot stand each other and suddenly get all ugly towards one another. But that's on a whole other level.

Right now I'm just trying to understand the whole boyfriend/girlfriend/dating thing and why these wonderful people didn't make it together.