This is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm Sarah Austin Janice.

You've heard the term clean break.

It's a full and complete separation from a relationship, a situation, or even a bone.

If the ending is clean and absolute, it's supposed to be a good thing.

The idea is that it will heal better.

You'll move on sooner. There's no residue.

In my life, clean breaks have been rare, and I'll tell you more about that later. But we did

manage to find five stories today from Texas to the Kenyan countryside that explore this

idea from different angles. Our first story sets the stage for healthy endings done right.

Teresa Wiggins told this at an open mic, Moth StorySlam in Boston,

where we partner with Public Radio Station WBUR.

Here's Teresa.

I was in sixth grade and about 22 hours into a relationship with Joey Nichols when I realized that our values would no longer align.

Joey was this tall, sort of goofy, loud kid who everybody loved, and he was so kind to everybody. And I was shy and

anxious, and I really wanted to fit in and mostly wanted to be a good girl. But I knew Joey

liked me because he talked to me in gym class. He was like, hey, Teresa, what's up? And I was like,

nothing. So things were in motion. And he sent word to his

friends, who sent word to my friends, who sent word to me that he wanted to go out with me.

My friends pressed me. They were like, do you like him or do you like, like, like him? And I was

like, I think I might like like him. So we sent word back word back and the next thing I knew he's in front of me in the hallway my girlfriends are in this like semi-circle behind me and he's like Teresa will you go out with me and I was like okay it was exhilarating I was somebody's girlfriend and that exhilarating. I was somebody's girlfriend.

And that exhilaration lasted for 1.7 seconds

because exactly after that,

...