I just saw this documentary on PBS about Albert Einstein and his first wife, Mileva. Wow. It was beautiful and heart-wrenching. Mileva was a brilliant German scientist who broke ground for women who sought to seek education in Europe in that time. Mileva and Einstein met in college, they shared a love for science and became close close friends. They eventually got married. To make a long story short, he ended up leaving her, moving to the United States, and marrying some other chick within a year after they divorced. She sacrificed her career to raise their family, and ended up taking care of their schizophrenic son until she died... alone.

This is what the PBS website had to say:
"Decades after Albert Einstein's death in 1955, love letters revealed a long-concealed secret. When Einstein came to America in 1933, his second wife, Elsa, was well-known to the public. But almost forgotten was his university sweetheart, scientific collaborator, and first wife-Mileva Maric, who helped him win the 1921 Nobel Prize. Follow the life of a brilliant mathematician, now seen as Einstein's soulmate, in this engaging documentary."

Not to be a pessimist, but sometimes I wonder if that's all there is. You love someone in that self-sacrificing way and you give everything you have... and then one day they just walk away.