Why would ex boyfriend give a gift?

Answer 1

Two things pop in my head, and as a guy who has done this, I think I can give at least a partial answer. 1. Wants to stop being the ex. This one is a little obvious. Signs to look forward would be the type of gift (i.e. is it romantic, does it have meaning from when you two were dating - there are others you just have to use some common sense) and the timing - is it out of the blue or on a date that used to be special for you two? These things I would guess to be indicators he is wanting back in (a gift right after the break up could mean this as well or the next thing I am about to say...) 2. Truly desires at least a basic friendship and/or no hard feelings. This is something a lot of people would scoff at (and people who say that a friendship post dating is the same (at least after a long relationship) as before should be laughed at), but I speak from personal experience. If you were great friends before dating or you became close friends during a relationship this is very possible, especially if the break up was not ugly. My ex-girlfriend and I were friends for two years before we started dating and our break up was mutual when we realized we wanted different things out of life (she broke up with me by the way, so I am not making that up to feel better about myself - though I had considered it many times myself for the same but was too afraid of hurting her). We both cried (a lot) when we broke up (we had been dating for three years), but agreed it was the right thing to do. The things to look for are the same - the type of gift and timing. I simply give her a gift card or small gift like a CD on her birthday. Acceptable gifts would be things any friend could give you (and not too big) and acceptable times would be when other friends give you gifts (birthday, Christmas, etc) You may want to think about how "over" you he seems. If he is constantly e-mailing, texting, calling, etc. probably still recovering from the relationship. If it is what you would expect from any friend - but preferably less- he probably is just trying to say, "No hard feelings" and that he still cares for you like a "friend". I put friend in quotation marks because its a unique type of friend. Most friendships are meant to grow, but this is a friendship that cannot grow, but its hard to no longer care for someone who meant so much for so long if you were close before and/or grew close while dating and the break up was accepted by both sides as the best thing for each person. Some people choose to not show those feelings because they think (and rightly so) it will make things complicated and others try to somehow find a way of saying that they still care while making it clear they have no intention of trying to work their way back into your life. Trying to maintain at least the actions of a basic friendship such as giving a small gift on an occasion that gifts between friends happens could be how he is showing that.