I have this friend I met through my local MOMS Club. She and I announced our pregnancies at the same time, were due within days of each other and grew to be very close over the past two years. Suddenly, she dropped me like a hot potato. I am completely frustrated and hurt by this sudden fall from grace (go figure). I’m borrowing this forum to post my thoughts so that I don’t say something to her face that I will regret later. So here goes.

You really hurt my feelings. We went from being really close and talking to each other almost more than we did our own husbands to not talking at all. You were one of my closest friends and then suddenly you’re gone. I’m incredibly hurt by that. I don’t know what I did to upset you, if I did anything at all.

You pissed me off with your passive-agressive bitching about me on Facebook. I know that you have three children and no local family and so you haven’t had any time off in a while, but, BUT 1) you have a husband and he is more than capable of taking the kids for a couple of hours and DOES SO on regular occasions. ALSO, I have offere countless times to help you with the ONE child who is still at home in the morningsĀ  so you could have some time off. You have not taken me up on that offer, so you are now NOT ALLOWED to get pissed off because I get a whopping TWO hours of child-free time ONCE a week.

I’m really not sure why you have three children when you seem to hate being a mother so much. There are ways to prevent that.

I am not sure what the hell is going on with you, but I miss hanging out with you. Sometimes. Other times I am much happier now that I am not dealing with your constant negativity. And hatred of random things. It’s been kind of nice to have opinions about something and not have them disregarded or criticized because they don’t align perfectly with your own.

I know you are having a hard time with your finances, but guess what? SO IS EVERYONE ELSE! Get over it. The fact that you can still buy groceries is a blessing. Just because your husband has student loans is not reason to mooch money from everyone in your family. And constantly bitching about using your husband’s bonus to pay those loans to someone whose husband didn’t get a raise or a bonus this year? Not the best of moves.

Do you like anything? At all? Because every time I mention something I like, you tell me you hate it. So what, exactly, do you like? Seriously. Quoting you: I’ve never been a fan of sports, vampires, snobs, reality tv shows, organized (or unorganized) religion, wishy-washy-ness, high heels, ironing, cell phones, gardening, exercise, scrapbooking, cleaning, baking, self-righteousness, Starbucks…the list can go on. I’m not a big fan of much. You have also mentioned that you hate Wal-Mart and in the next breath talked about your beloved M—–n Wal-Mart. Which is it, do you hate it or love it? And also? That right there is wishy-washy-ness. I’m also pretty sure that you hate anything that I thought of or found first, just because it wasn’t your original idea. If you come up with it, it’s The Best Thing Ever! If it is my idea? It’s shit.

I know that you are feeling stressed, but if you send me another mail note bitching at me about something that isn’t my fault, I am not going to be responsible for my actions. Or my words. It took everything I had not to rip into you when you emailed me, yelling at me because I got a morning away from my children and you didn’t. And because I had the gall to remind you to give me something that was due in September. Telling me you’ll give it to another friend because you don’t have the time is bullshit. It takes NO time to hand something to me when you see me twice a day at school. Even less time if you carry it with you and put it on my car.

You are entirely too hard on your children. And it is hurting them. If they won’t eat their food, they will be hungry. And yes, they will likely complain about it. And you will have to ignore it because they have figured out that food is one of your MANY hot buttons. Also, messing up a play room? Is what children do. Taking toys away from them for a week or more, doesn’t teach them actions & consequences. It makes them forget the toy existed. Especially when the child in question is TWO. Making a kid stand in a corner for an entire afternoon is not appropriate punishment for a three or five year old. It’s bordering on torture. Especially when the infraction is running in the house. Or bouncing on the couch. Or spilling something on their clothes.

I hate your daughter’s hair cut. She looks like a pixie. And a boy. It’s not a good look. I know that it is what your daughter wanted, but I suspect that you helped guide her to that decision by complaining about her losing her hair things. She’s THREE. They do that.

I gave you a birthday present. You got me nothing for my birthday. That hurt. I feel very greedy saying that, but I thought that after nearly two years of friendship AND your long-winded discussion about what you were getting K for HER birthday, that I would receive something other than a Happy Birthday wish on Facebook. I was mistaken. And that hurt my feelings.

If your kid won’t poop on the potty it’s because she’s not ready. And because she knows it pisses you off. She can tell you she has to poop. She can tell you poop goes in the potty. She can tell you she has pooped. That’s great. It does not mean that she is ready to physically poop in the potty. She is not yet two and a half. You admit yourself that you know she’s young. She’s a potty training savant, but forcing her to sit on the potty for 45 minutes is unreasonable. She’s telling you poop goes in the potty because you have yelled at her for two months about pooping on the potty. Back off. Let her shit in her diapers for a while. That’s what’s happening anyways. Don’t scream at her and maybe she’ll decide she’s ready.

Telling me that you were “completely content” with the way the preschool pick-up/drop-off schedule was going and then LESS THAN 12 HOURS later telling me something needed to change is NOT COOL. Also? I’m pretty sure you were pissed off because I professed a desire to stay home the whole day. I know it is a crime, but I didn’t want to leave my house. You tell me that all the time, but I guess I’m not allowed to hole up in my house like you do every day.

All that vintage shit you have in your house looks like crap. It’s old and unattractive and doesn’t go with anything else. I like antiques as much as the next person, but there should be a cohesive theme instead of Yard-Sale-Barfed-In-My-Living-Room. That’s especially true for the faded plastic Santa thing that is 1) an outside decoration and 2) not meant to be up year-round.

Saying that you “don’t mean to be rude” is rude. If it is your opinion, it’s your opinion. If you think it is rude, it probably is and maybe you could find another way to speak to your friend that isn’t rude or hurtful. Just because you are upset doesn’t mean you have carte blanche to hurt people. You know you are abrasive and brash and yet you continue on like this as though admitting it gives you impunity to act that way. It doesn’t. It just makes people not want to be around you.

Even if you do decide you want to spend time together again, I’m not sure I do. I don’t think I want to open myself to the potential to be hurt again like this. And, after writing all this, I’ve realized you weren’t as good a friend as I thought. And I don’t think I need you in my life like that.



7 Responses to “Things I Would Like To Say To My Friend”

  1.   psychicgeek Says:

    Isn’t writing a great process to come to some solid conclusions? Good on you, she sounds like a crappy kind of friend.

  2.   Bama Cheryl Says:

    Good to hear you get it out. Quite cathartic, huh? Let’s also remember that no one makes someone a victim except themselves. The only thing a person can control in any situation is how they react to it. This includes children not pooping on the toilet and myriad other infractions. Glad you got this out!

  3.   ireland Says:

    It sounds like she did you a favor by breaking it off! You’re right…after typing this all out, I bet it’s eye opening how negative she is and you don’t need that! I feel sorry for her kids.

  4.   Kim Says:

    That woman was never your friend. xox

  5.   Coffeebreath Says:

    That? is awesome. She needed blowing off by you and it sure sounds like you will be much happier without her. When you run into her, just smile big, be sweet and make sure she knows it. I’m from the south, we just kill with kindness…

  6.   Pam Says:

    I think the very last paragraph of your post says it all. With friends like this, who needs enemies. You are much better off without her. She sounds positively toxic. Good for you for figuring that out.

  7.   Nan Says:

    Hee hee! I love how we can start writing about something and then halfway through it’s like “Okay, now I understand.” Sometimes a good rant is all we need to help us decide to do something… like end a relationship.

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