year’s end

by rantywoman

Several months before I started this blog, on a day when I had reached the apex of my grief over being single and childless, I called a much younger friend in need of a shoulder to cry on.  She said she couldn’t talk because she was running out to meet a date.  She didn’t call back, but over the coming months, I was informed by her Facebook page that she had become serious with someone and was traveling to exotic locations with him.  Soon after she posted on Facebook that they had moved in together.

She missed a big event of mine, but invited me to their housewarming party via Evite.  I went, but we spoke few words.  She came to my second event, and we spoke a little in a group setting, and the following summer I went to a party she put on with several others, and we exchanged a few words there.  A few months later and about a year after our initial phone conversation, I was informed of her engagement via Facebook, and months later was sent a handwritten postcard invitation to the wedding after- party, which I placed on my desk and then avoided dealing with for weeks.

I decided to extend one olive branch and asked over email if she wanted to meet up for lunch.  She responded enthusiastically but cancelled at the last minute, claiming fatigue from wedding planning.

So the big day is drawing nigh.  My mother will be in town, and I found a holiday event I think she would love that is the exact same night.

After some back and forth, I have decided to go to the holiday event with my mother and a few single female friends.  I sent a nice excuse and a gift.

Phew.  It’s done.

There is some residual guilt, but were I to attend her party, would I ever spend real time with her, or even see her, again?  Unlikely.