Former Friend

Alexandra & Belle

I worked with a woman named Donna at Southwestern Bell/SBC/AT&T for about 20 years. We got set in a support role & worked well together. We became friends.  Actually she got a friend...I can't exactly say the same for me. 

I was there for her pregnancy & then for her bought with breast cancer. I ended up going back to regular desk & she was promoted. 

Looking back, we had very little in common. She is married to Danny & has a son, in his 40s now. I have none of those things.  And Donna's only life was her family. It was all she talked about. 

She is also one of the most selfish people I've ever known. She did nothing she did not want to do. When I went to her house in the metroplex, she'd decided what we were going to do & she was not about to make a change. A couple of times I told her I wanted to do something else & she absolutely refused. We watched the TV shows she wanted to watch (Rachel Maddow for stupid sake) or the movie she wanted to see. Her house was always freezing. Not asking for heat but a throw would have been nice. I took to taking my own. And I'd have to take it to bed with me too. They didn't care one ounce. Plus she kept the nastiest house ever. I swear there was a roach in her dining room that was there the year before when I was there.

I'd be mortified if someone was uncomfortable in my home.

A couple of years ago, Donna had knee surgery & was having issues.  I called every few days to check on her. She finally told me that I didn't need to call so often. If she needed me, she'd call me.  So I never called again & she didn't call me. It's been 2 years since I talked to her. 

I had already blocked her from Facebook but she felt the need to message me questioning my post. She wanted to know why I was following a brewery--my cousin's business. And she tried to take me to task when I posted about Dr Fauci being a fraud. She loved him. I told her we'd have to agree to disagree. I'm sure she was not pleased.

Donna & Danny were obnoxious, dyed in the wool Democrats & we definitely have different political views. But we never really discussed it.  But after the election this year, Danny wrote an asshole post on Facebook about losing the election & how he was cleaning out all his friends who did not agree with him. He burned a whole lot of bridges. 

So last week I got a note from Donna. She told me they were moving to be close to their son. She also said I was her dearest friend for 40 years & it was too bad that politics came between us. I had assumed that was the big issue but we did not discuss politics. And I have always been able to care about people even if they didn't agree with me on every thing. But I'm an adult, so there's that. I have to say the note made me angry. I shredded the note. And the only picture I had of the 2 of us. And I put the family cookbook she'd given me in the donation box. Did I mention I was angry?

The only thing I kept from her were 2 Boyds Bears years ago with 2 women on the phone...Alexandra & Belle. I'm confident I can still love them in spite of where they came from.