The fairy tale idea of "soulmates", "our half", "mr. right" and so on, have ruined our approach to relationship in general, this is what I think!
My first ex for instance, he's been a drug addict for years and he recovered, finding me and being my very first sexual partner made him feel in heaven, then 11th September 2001 came, Twin Towers attack and all that stuff...
Many matters linked to points of view about this tragedy, led him to feel excluded at work and among friends, he had just me but I could do nothing as he started chems again.
Drugs have destroyed our relationship but, know what, we are still very good friends, now he's sober again.
The others, one died and the last I don't want even to see his photo around... And this one? What you said about trust, communication, knowing (and loving) ourselves, started much before I even suspected we could ever become a couple. He has been, and is, the person I can trust most. The first man to know I am HIV positive, for example; before my biological family.
If I think the former drug-addict guy is my very first love? Yes, I do. If I still love him? Yes, I do, not in the couple/romance way though.
When I was with my ex (the abuser), he never liked him and I didn't listen as I thought about him being somehow jealous. No, he was in "former drug addict mode" and attempted to warn me that the person in question was an abuser, an alcoholic, but I was caught by the, let's call it, blindness of love and "I'll save your life, I'll make you change".
Oh gosh, you, 31 years with a female hiding your real sexuality... It could have been not so easy for you!
I had a short flirt with a girl when I was a teen but I didn't really manage to make it last, my heart brought me elsewhere. To MUSIC, and GUYS! These were times of full AIDS emergency so music was my only love then.