I do love this thread, it gives me hope. I have a few stories of my own though.
First love: we split after 8 month relationship, (dragged out for another 5!) then after 2 years NC we got back together for another 9 months.
A number of brief exes in the middle all came back for a second fling.. i wasnt really interested.
Last love: we dated for a year, he left (dragged out for another 2 months) NC for 5 weeks, I wrote him a letter, we texted for another 4 weeks, met up and 2 months later we were back together fo ranother 18 months.. split in Feb only just gone NC...
My parents dated for 2 years, split for a year, then got back together and stayed married for another 25!