Ryan and Lauren were together for 10 years, and are no longer happy. They've forgotten how to communicate and they've let things fester and bitterness sets in and they decide to take a break. One year, with the only rule being no contact. After that year, they are going to decided whether of not they should stay together. 
 I can't stop crying. Its not sad or ugly crying. It's healing crying. I loved this story so much. I really loved the idea behind it. TJR really impresses that each human being/human relationships is different, and there's no science behind a working relationship. What works for some people, doesn't work for others. Our generation has it ingrained so deeply on how we should live; i.e., women should want marriage and kids, People who are married should make it work, or they divorce. Lauren's entire family had very different relationships and needs, but they worked for those individual people. I really liked that TJR showed us all of these different relationships, and how they worked. 
 When I started reading this story, I thought it was going to be Ryan and Lauren's story. It really ended up being Lauren's journey about finding out what she wanted from her life. I would've liked a little more insight to Ryan's time away other than what we got. she does make sure we aren't left completely in the dark about his thoughts, though, so don't worry about that. 
 I think the story ended how it should have. I feel like the best quote to describe this whole story is, "all you have to do is never give up." That doesn't mean things in life end the way you think they will or the way you expect them to. All you can do is try and give it everything you've got.