I ran into my ex best friend today

It was admittedly awkward but I'm glad I saw her, it's nice to know she's still alive and kicking. I was tempted to exchange numbers but I didn't, something held me back. I guess its because I don't regret ending our friendship. Starting over was hard but I did it and like my life the way it is now. Reconnecting,reconciling and rekindling the friendship would just drag me down. I was shocked to find she's been living here in our hometown this entire time. When we parted she alluded to feeling somewhat held back by our friendship, guess that wasn't the case since she's still here 2 years later. Tonight my boyfriend of one week shy of a year is coming over for our date night. I wouldn't be dating him had I still been friends with her. All the things I felt like I lost out on because of our friendship I now have. I'm proud of all that I have accomplished since the end of our 14 year long friendship. The greatest thing I found was self respect. I had allowed myself to get accustomed to being treated like a burden. I spent years waiting for her to change into the friend I needed but that moment never came because she was who she was. The truth is the part of me that wanted to reconnect with her just to help her out. I can tell she needs help. I spent years being her keeper. Years taking care of her, particularly her mental health have given me a keen intuition when it comes to her but her problem was she never stopped needing help. I hardly got support because I was the one doing the supporting . My boyfriend taught me a lot about what love is. Love is demonstrated by our actions. When someone cares for and loves you, you don't feel burdened, you feel supported. It feels so good to need someone and have them be there for you immediately. That's how I was to her and that's how my boyfriend is to me. I know better now. I'm not that same child that took it upon herself to take care of her "best friend".