My Ex Dumped Me By Ghosting Me At Prom, And His Parents Approved Of It

I'm pretty sure all of us reading this right now have been the SO your boyfriend or girlfriend's parents have hated. And if not, just wait.

It's a right of passage we all eventually endure.

Your SO's family can hate you for a wide range of reasons. Maybe you chew with your mouth open. Maybe you talk to their child like he's a toddler. Maybe the mom has issues letting go.

Or, it could just be that your SO's parents don't think you're the one for them, which is usually what happens about 99.9 percent of the time.

Parents have this keen sense of knowing if a love is true or not, and sometimes it's before we're ready to see it for ourselves. Case in point: My ex's parents made him dump me.

We were young, and that's why our love was the best. It was so innocent.

Every big milestone, like kissing for the first time, holding hands or telling each other we loved one another, were like moments out of a romantic comedy with Ryan Reynolds.

That's why it was so heartbreaking when I found out his parents basically forced him to break up with me.

Young love is passionate, and it's too passionate for some parents to see and hear about. Looking back almost a decade later, I get it. Our love scared them.

They were "losing" their little boy, and now, as an adult, I can understand how frustrating and terrifying that had to feel. I keenly remember the time he told me that his parents believed he was too young to be in love.

He had fought for me, defended our love and swore to them that we needed to be together. At the same time, they put the idea in his head that you can't possibly know true love when you're a teenager.

The next day, he swooped me in his arms and told me what he had said and how he had stood up for our love. I thought that was the moment things would change. But, that feeling of hopefulness was short-lived.

A few weeks later, basically in the middle of my prom, this guy ghosted me.

He left me alone, and I was broken, hurt and completely humiliated.

How could someone leave me in the middle of Lifehouse's "You And Me"? How could someone drop his arms from around my waist, tell me he hated this song and then look at me and say, "I never wanted to be here anyway"?

How could someone just up and leave in the middle of our first slow dance of the evening, when my heart was pulsating, feeling more in love than ever before?

How could I look at my friends, my peers and even the teachers who just stared at me, wide-eyed and in shock? How could I listen as they tried to tell me that one day, I'd meet a man who loves me?

How could I not feel ashamed about being the girl who was dumped at prom?

He left. I was broken, hurt and completely humiliated.

I got home and cried myself to sleep for weeks.

And I never learned why it happened. I never learned what his parents said to convince him to do what he did. I never learned why he was OK with it or if it ever bothered him.

When you're young, the pressure to please your parents is high. And it should be.

You're stuck with them for at least a few more years until you're out on your own, eating Ramen noodles and struggling to pay rent.

But if your parents want you to break up with someone, whether you want to or not, you should do it in a humane way.

Don't be a dick about it. Don't try to send a message. Don't go out of your way to hurt someone, especially someone who really loves you, someone who would have done anything for you at any given time.

If your parents want you to break up with someone, you should do it in a humane way.

Relationships end for many reasons. Some are good, some are bad and some are indifferent. Don't go out of your way to hurt someone.

As I said, I understand why his parents wanted us to break up. I would even go as far to say that I understand why he did it.

But thinking of that night still hurts me, despite the entire decade that has passed.

I just hope it's a pain my future daughter or son will never have to endure. Love hurts, but as parents, we should ensure our children end their relationships the right way, not the easy way.