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Friendship Problem - Advice appreciated.

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Friendship Problem - Advice appreciated.

Postby IlissaThayne » Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:06 pm

I have a question and I'd appreciate advise.
I have a friend who I've known since I was 17, I am now 32.
At the very beginning of our friendship we had loads of fun, we were both young and got into all sorts of fun trouble.
As we got into our early twenties my friend decided to marry a individual who I disliked. Her husband was blatantly rude. He would ignore me if I visited, never acknowledged me and needless to say he would never say "hi". This caused tension and I distanced myself from her out of respect for her marriage. They had a baby and I missed out on a lot of her birthdays because I did not want to subject myself to her husbands behavior.
The marriage lasted 8 years, and ended in divorce about two years ago. He cheated with another woman. I was one of the first persons who my friend called and I immediately dropped what I was doing and went to her house to comfort her.
The next few months were hard to witness as a friend. Lots of going back and fourth regarding feelings about her now exhusband. She wasn't thinking straight and I can relate (I had been a victim of a cheating exboyfriend years prior) so I tried to respect her "bad" decisions, like her sleeping with her exhusband who was now living with the other woman who was now pregnant with his love child. Her excessive partying. Her calling my exboyfriend with no regard to my own feelings. My friend eventually lost her job and was unemployed for months. Her car got repossessed (twice) and she was going through a really rough time. It got really bad but she still kept making "bad" decisions so I made a mental note to stay a little apart for my own sake. I knew she had to live out her own life and I didn't want to be judgmental, altho I was judging her secretly... I never really told her how I felt.
We stopped talking for a few months after a little blow when she claimed her marriage was successful and was more successful than any relationship I ever had (I don't know why she decided to compare). That is when I had enough, I was harsh but I said, "How can you claim that? I've never been married, I've never been divorced, and your husband cheated on you with his now fiance who is expecting his child? You call that successful?" Of course it didn't go well but I was maxed out in the patience department.
After a few months of not talking, she decided to email me. She asked me how I was, I replied and she said she wanted to get together preferably at my house. I agreed. She came over in work clothes, proceeded to ask me if she could shower at my house and get ready for dinner - I was a little shocked at how comfortable she made herself after months of not talking. Yes, we've known each other for a very long time, but I found it to be a little odd. I knew we weren't on the same page and should have seen it as a warning.
We hung out, it was nice.
We were fine for a few months and I introduced her to a few friends I had made while we weren't talking. She was immediately smitten with one of my friends. She pursued him and he wasn't interested. I found myself in a awkward middle friend position. My new guy friend proceeded to make fun of her with a group of mutual friends while she was not there... I didn't appreciate this so I informed her. I said, "He's making fun of you, sharing the text messages you send him and is calling you crazy." - She said she appreciated the information but I felt she was insincere, I felt she didn't believe me. I sincerely think she thought I was jealous of her relationship to him... So once again, I stepped away. I let her make her bad decisions. She kept talking to my new guy friend and got made fun of repeatedly.
A few weeks later someone else informs her of his "bad boy" poking fun of her behavior - She looses it. She gets really upset and called me a "bad friend" for not informing her. She went on a rampage as to how she expects me to behave like her and tell her everything that is being said about her etc etc. My response was, "I warned you. I told you exactly what was happening and advised you to stop talking to him, but you didn't. You kept talking to him. You didn't believe me, you thought I was jealous."
I was extremely hurt, extremely extremely offended and hurt that she'd call me a bad friend.
I feel like at this point my friendship to her has been severely compromised due to our history.
And every time we see one another its not good. There's lots of resentment on my part - I feel angry at her. I don't trust her and I dislike that she believes her behavior is OK because she's been my friend for years. I want to tell her, "There is a big BIG chunk of my life that you missed out on because you were married. You don't really know me anymore, stop pretending to know who I am."
I'm having a hard time letting it go because she blames me in this scenario. She said I'm dramatic, bad friend, and says I have issues expressing my feelings and that is why all of my relationships fail. She said she feels sorry for me but then she ends it with "I love you".
And my thought is... Why would any friend of mine say those things to me?

I guess I'm confused and hurt.
Should I end this friendship? Should I end it?
IlissaThayne
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Re: Friendship Problem - Advice appreciated.

Postby Kabuhi » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:10 pm

She came over in work clothes, proceeded to ask me if she could shower at my house and get ready for dinner - I was a little shocked at how comfortable she made herself after months of not talking. Yes, we've known each other for a very long time, but I found it to be a little odd. I knew we weren't on the same page and should have seen it as a warning.

Yes you should have seen it as a warning, but it's fairly understandable that you didn't at the time. The sudden change in behavior immediately set off red flags for me personally.

Should I end this friendship? Should I end it?

It ultimately depends on what you want to do and what you want in your life, but the simple answer would be "yes, you should end it."
Serving healthy doses of truth since 1996.
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Re: Friendship Problem - Advice appreciated.

Postby IlissaThayne » Wed Sep 11, 2013 2:41 am

Thank you for your reply.
I appreciate your words.
I was just hurt at the moment and needed to vent, which is why I wrote on this forum. Also, her behavior sometimes makes me think like I'm the "crazy" one if that makes sense?
Either way, thank you.
IlissaThayne
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Re: Friendship Problem - Advice appreciated.

Postby Thexena » Thu Sep 12, 2013 12:47 pm

Dear IlissaThayne,

I completely relate to your story. My usual advise to everybody on this forum still applies though: "Hurt people hurt other people." I think your friend is hurting and she wants to hurt you to make herself feel better.

I also have a friend who conveniently forgets about me when I need her but the day she needs anything (from a lift to a shoulder to cry on) then I am suddenly good enough. I put up with her because of loyalty but when I desperately needed support and friendship when the love of my life left me, not ONE of my "friends" stuck around.

Also, my best guy friend was in a car accident last month and suffered major brain damage. His family told all his friends to back off since they wanted us to remember him like he was not as he is now. I was pleasantly surprised when I got a message from him past Sunday when he wanted to chat and I tried to be supportive and listen to him complain but after a day of chatting (he had forgotten almost everything about me thus I had to re-tell most of our conversations) he said I was "Too weird to be friends with" and blew me off. I was devastated as it was like losing him twice. I am also scared he will come running back when he needs a friend again just to hurt me again, so I can totally relate to the anger and disappointment you feel.

I agree with Kabuhi that you should distance yourself because that friend will just always keep on hurting you (ask me, I know) but like I said, I'm in a similar position and I know that when those two friends come running back I will probably listen and be supportive just to be abandoned when they feel better again.

I will support them, but what I learned from your story is that it will happen again and again thus I will just not get emotionally involved and just be a support. Thank you for your story, I learned a lot from it.
"You never know how strong you are... Until being strong is the only option you have."
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Re: Friendship Problem - Advice appreciated.

Postby Distant Angel » Thu Sep 12, 2013 5:25 pm

I agree with Kabuhi and Thexena.

I also had a time in my life when I had to ask my cousin to not be a part of it anymore. He was jealous and spoiled and would act like a brat all the time. I just couldn't take it anymore.
The lesson I learned from it is your time is precious and who you spend time with will dictate how your life turns out. If you hang out with negative people, your life will be that, if you hang out with positive people, your life will be that. Simple as that.
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Re: Friendship Problem - Advice appreciated.

Postby IlissaThayne » Fri Sep 13, 2013 6:57 pm

Thank you all so much! :D
It is getting easier and easier and the days go by.
I have to admit, it was hard at the very beginning.
And thank you for the quote, "Hurt people hurt other people." - It makes perfect sense.
My time is precious, and who I spend it with is my decision.
So thank you ALL very much for your kind words.
Time to meet new people and branch out!
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