I recently lost a very dear friend of many years. She stuck by me during a very difficult divorce and listened to my countless hours of ranting and raving about my ex husband. I listened to her many complaints about the her difficult and troubled teenage daughters and financial constraints. Thats what friends do. I had been suffering terrible anxiety and depression in recent months and made the horrible mistake of drinking too much one night and making a real fool of myself. I called her in the midst of the “crisis’ and she came quickly; with her husband and two teenage children (why?!) When it became evident that I was fine but intoxicated-she left. I was guilt ridden for days, hysterical, embarassed, ashamed etc. I have also decided to start seeing a professional to get my anxiety in check. Well, the biggest hurt of all is that she is no longer talking to me! I bumped into her and she ignored me and her daughter snickered at me. I can not tell you how badly this hurt. I feel like I completely misjudged the person she is and NEVER should have trusted her. I also bailed her daughter out of many rediculous social situations, sending nude pictures, sneaking out and hitchchiking, fist fighting in school etc.

Now I make ONE mistake while going through a grueling period of my life and she judges me?? really??

Some people are not capable of forgiveness and truly giving. I will never talk to this narrow minded person again.

So sorry to hear that Jennifer. Your friend sounds like she has issues. You should be proud that you were such a good friend to her. I agree that it was very narrow minded of her to treat you the way she did especially considering how you bailed out her daughter, which was nice of you to do. Do you think there is something going on you don’t know about? I do agree how she treated you was cruel and what a bad example she is setting to her daughter! We all have bad moments and if someone is a friend they don’t hold it against us.

So in the past two weeks, I’ve lost a friendship that has meant more to me than any other relationship i have ever had before in my life. At first she was a little distant and then simply cold. We had contact each and every day before this. There is a third person who she works very closely with who i think has had a huge impact on what has happened. I don’t know because she hasn’t returned my calls, or texts. The only text i got was leave it alone, and delete my number after reading this message. I pleaded via text for an explanation, and then just yesterday i wrote a letter. I obviously haven’t had a reply and don’t really expect to. In the letter i told her of my concerns regarding this third person. In fact the week prior to I voiced my concerns about trust with this third person, she completely agreed, and understood why i wanted to take a step back from this girl. Everything was great and fine for a week. then it wasn’t. In the letter i was very level headed. I stated my concerns, told her how much she meant to me, explained more in the letter than perhaps i ever had in person. and then i wished her my best. I left it open to a reply if she felt the need. I took 3 days to write the letter, so i know i included everything i wanted to say. But I’m absolutely devastated that someone i shared so much with, who was always so warm, kind and affectionate, who told me i was the sister she never had, welcomed me into her family, spent weekend after weekend with, who i moved just 2 weeks prior to be closer with…. has just shut me out. No reasonings, no nothing. I told her what she was doing was almost cruel and to do let me know what happened so i can start to rebuild my life. Nothing. nothing at all. of course i can only assume she got the letter today, and it’s too soon for a reply, but i’m gutted. absolutely devastated than firstly the friendship is over and secondly she could treat me like this, when i have never spoken poorly of her, never lied to her and have done everything in my power to support and protect her. other friends are saying i was too goo for her and she didn’t deserve me…. that doesn’t help. Because i still think the world of her. i just think this 3rd party has made up a blatant lie, and i will never get the opportunity to state my case. Even though i havent got one. I have experienced every possible emotion i’m sure. I would do anything to spend 15 minutes with her and sort this out. I don’t think this will ever happen. is it possible to be so cruel to someone who just the week before you were telling you think the world of? is she hurting as much as me. I would appreciate some sort of guidence, or advice as to where to go from here. I honestly feel my world is upside down. i couldn’t eat, sleep or work with hiow this has affected me. Now i’m back at work, i’ve moved back to my prior residence but when i’m at home, alone all i want to do is take 2 sleeping pills and sleep. Because it doesn’t hurt when i sleep. others try to invite me out, want to keep me company. But all i want to do is be alone. And talk to the one person who can answer my questions. I can accept the friendship is over, I just want to know why?

This may seem odd, but I am one of those people who just leave without saying anything. Perhaps they, like me, moved and perhaps they, like me are afraid of email and phones (it’s not as far fetched as it may sound). If there are people who do that, know within your heart that it is (probably) not you. They have their own, horrible issues and lives to deal with. They probably have been hurt so many times in the past that they couldn’t get invested in the relationship in the first place (that might hurt reading that). If they don’t just hate goodbyes, they may even know it’s cruel to not say anything but just can’t summon up the energy to care about anything anymore. I imagine they have deep psychological issues (depression and the like). IT’S (probably) NOT YOUR FAULT!

I can’t really speak for the other people who act this way, but I’m sorry that my own behavior has caused pain in the world.

I stumbled across your blog after searching for “grieving the loss of a friendship.” This morning I was in tears over thinking about the loss of a friendship that happened 3 years ago. My heart still aches and I needed advice. I am holding on to too much hurt and need to let it go. What you have gone through really helped me put things in a new light and I thank you for sharing your experience. And I also found an awesome new blog and artist! I am a mom to 2 dogs and 1 cat and I am totally in awe of the beauty of your pet portraits.

Well I heard from her…. Got a few answers…not all… it was the third party… however she believed the lies… we agreed to talk again in a couple of weeks… and now she wont answer my calls again… so back to square one… however at least now I can have the closure I need and deserved. It’s incredibly cruel to cut someone off with no answers. Possibly the cruelest thing someone could do. My advice to comment 55, is to write a text. No one deserves that… you wouldn’t treat an enemy as such. Perhaps you have never had a true friend. Friends will be there and support one another through anything and everything. I guess time does heal, to an extent, but if someone has put the time and energy and effort into loving you the least you can do is be honest. Even if you haven’t got all the answers then at let them know that. They only thing I can compare the way I felt was like someone you love and care deeply for missing. Not knowing if they are deal or alive, and never knowing. Imagine that pain. At least my “friend” had the decency to give that to me, after 3 months, but at least i got that. If i never get anymore I can be thankful for that. It was enough for me to start to move on……. And I just have to continue to believe that good things happen to good people…

Sometimes you do stupid things to lose a friendship. You take a friendship with the opposite sex to the next level and then find that maybe you should not have done that but then you can’t go back….and then you don’t know what to do. That was my mistake.

Then you find that you can’t talk about everything like you used to and conversations change.

Now here I am without my friend and it hurts…. I could see the end coming….and now its here. I didn’t realize how much she filled my life in just the daily conversations. We tried to go back to just being friends but I guess we both knew there was more there. She always looked for a excuse to believe that it was not but she knew it was as I did but would not admit.

Now she is gone….and I miss her.

Great advice you shared here. Thanks much. Today I choose to honor a friend who has chosen to exit my life.

:cat: My oh my oh my how I can relate to most of what’s been experessed. I came across this blog as I was Googling “Death of a Friendship”. At the moment I have a very fractured friendship. Sadly I dumped my grief of a loss on her and shouldn’t have. She has pulled away…no letters…no phone calls…no email…what makes it harder we’re a few states away in distance so it’s not like we can sit down and just talk. What rings in my head and heart so much is her words among so many “we’re friends no matter what !” This friendship isn’t that old…maybe 3 years but be really connected right away. I feel as though this relationship is on life support and if anyone is going to pull the plug it will be her. I’ve said I was sorry for any anxiety I coused her and can she forgive me….no response from her…all those touching expressions of friendship seem so hallow now…
Thanks for your blog…know that your words are very comforting…even several years later…I hope you’ve been able to heal from your experience.

Hello,
I know I’m about 4 years too late, but I just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading this post. I found it by searching for “loss of friendship”. I have my own “lost friendship” story, much like you and the other people who have commented here.

The end of my friendship didn’t occur recently, but it’s been on my mind lately. It’s comforting to see that the sadness I’ve been feeling over this lost friendship isn’t an isolated experience – that there are other people with similar experiences: the feelings of loss, the lack of a sense of closure, the uncertainty of why the friendship is over, etc.

apperciate this blog on friendships….

I am in the process of saying good bye to a 20 year friendship

we have little in common now as our kids are grown….when we do get together especially with other mutual friends it feels more like a mutual admiration society and striving contest, than a real expression of intimacy…..
I have been very frustrated with this woman.. I wrote her a heartfelt letter expressing that I am anxious when around her and so forth…her response? she has big social anxiety
and is afraid of me…..

I do not notice that she is particularly afraid of others in our circle…..
also she constantly puts down one child and puts the other on a pedestal….adult children….and it offends me.

it is all very sad….we had some good times in the past but it has not felt right for a while….

thanks for this blog and posting place……

I lost my friend 4 days ago. I thought the world of him and he threw me under the bus. I can’t understand for the life of me why did he turn on me. We would have really great conversations and we would laugh together and now nothing.
I feel sad and hurt. I’m at a loss. I worshiped him and he just turned on me. What do I do now? Will I ever know why he did this??? :brickwall:

I can relate so much to these posts. I lost a 12 year best friend recently which breaks my heart. This friend and I were like family. We always called each other sister from anotha motha. We spoke a couple times a week, emailed regularly and got together for weekend visits a couple times a month. Our lives were very paralleled, we both had marriages that were rocky, we both had health issues and both of us were down so we turned to each other for comfort.

This past year my marriage, after almost ending, became stronger than ever. After almost losing it we both realised we needed to repair it and worked hard to do so. We also started doing better financially (we had been for a while but i didn’t want to spend any of it in case we divorced) and we were able to do a lot of renos to our home, get a large pool, hot tub etc. my health also improved and for the first time in a lobg time i was happy.

I thought my friend would love coming over and using it as she stayed over at least two weekends a month. I had visions of the two of us hanging out by the pool drinking vino. She came once and never again. She bitched that the pool made her dizzy. She then told me she joined a gym near her home that also had a kidney shaped salt water pool only it was bigger than mine and she didn’t have to maintain it. She also told me to watch that I didn’t have cancer when I lost some weight from swimming every day.

She told me her marriage was coincidentally better too although I could tell she was lying as I felt her anger and sadness. She started being competitive like I told her I wished my town had a Starbucks and she started talking about how her area had 5 and she would email me from them (saying just enjoying a cappucino at starbucks) or she would make elaborate plans and cancel them at the last minute so that my friends would ask me if my canceling friend canceled. And 9 times out of 10 she did. And there is a lot more stuff like that that happened including cancelling on me the last time because I told her i was free from 12:00 pm and she said she didn’t want to come that late in the day (normally she would come at 11:00).

Finally I pointed it out to her after 6 months Of canceling on me very nicely that she did it often and she sent me an email that said ‘”our friendship has gone downhill”. It felt like a knife in my heart because I hadn’t changed at all she had. I kept calling even after that and leaving loving messages saying if she was down I was there for her. That nothing had changed. But alas she dumped me. It was like trying to save a drowning and having to watch it sinking, so helpless. She did admit she was so sensitive just before she did it and she didn’t understand why. Sadly, nor do I.

P.s. Liz if you are still around let me know how you are doing. It will help me get over this supposed sister too. I felt your pain and it’s the way I feel now…

Oops I meant Loz :/

Friendship is a funny thing and so very sad when long term ones end for seemingly no reason…and no opportunity to talk things out….here is a site that can be of some encouragement…
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/TheFriendshipBlogConnection/

I have been friends with a girl who lives 5 houses away for 12 years and it was the closest friendship ever. She would call me every day, 3 hour long calls, we had lots of fun adventures together and then last year she returned about 1 text in 10, barely rang, went away after Christmas and did not get me a gift but sent a text saying how much she loved my gift to her, she went overseas and came back a week ago and I have not heard from her since. I thought she must be too busy to call and text but today another local mum ( who my friend always found needy and annoying) was gloating about a text she got from my best friend.

I want to move on but it’s my BF birthday in 2 weeks…not sure what to do…

Jayne,I know how you feel but I’ve come to understand that a real friend would not treat you that way. She doesn’t deserve you if that is how she’s being. Sometimes unbeknownst to us, friends can be jeolous of us and a way to get back is to hurt you this way. These are not real friends. It hurt so bad when my BFF behaved this way (yesterday I found out it was because she was jeolous of my life) but I feel so much happier with each day because I deserve better. So do you. For her birthday send her an email that just says happy birthday and something commonplace in one line like hope you have a nice year, if you feel guilty but personally I wouldn’t even bother. Then drop her and find more friends that don’t play mind games. She doesn’t deserve you.

I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how much I love you and absolutely APPRECIATE you for writing this AMAZING piece with nothing less than your ENTIRE heart! I too have gone through this breakup (mid AND long-term), and because of the fact that I could actually FEEL your words to my very core having experienced all of these things myself, I literally broke down into some much-needed, long overdue tears halfway through your article. There was one part (out of many, actually) that had me shouting “AMEN to the top of my lungs!” When you said, ” A number of days pass where there’s no connection at all, then you talk but it’s rapid fire, and the fakeness is so thick you can hardly wait to get off the phone and replay the last several months in your head….” all I could do was close my eyes, throw my hands in the air, shake my head and MARVEL at how you totally described that entire scenario to PERFECTION. Not only are you a gifted writer, but you have the rare ability to give your reader soul permission to feel the entire emotional rollercoaster that accompanies these breakups with no reservation and no shame. I don’t know you, but my soul does and I love you. Thank you.

It is comforting to read other people’s stories of friendship lost. I’ve done it all, and have had most everything done to me as well. I’ve abandoned relationships, and have had people abandon me. What I’ve learned is that friendships are fragile, regardless of how old they are. Sometimes older friendships are the most fragile. I think what sometimes happens is that old relationships build up resentments and misunderstandings just like marriages, and sometimes the ‘straw that breaks the camels back’ comes along and ends the relationship very quickly. When this happens, the abandonment is quick and painful. I certainly have had guilt about abandoning relationships and strive to not put myself in situations where this might occur by not letting misunderstandings get swept under the rug. Friendships also drift apart when people move, have kids or get married as the focus of the friendship shifts. I’ve had friendships drift away because I got tired of always being the one staying in touch. I know that when I was abandoned that it hurt something awful and I still think about these people. I know I abandoned relationships for various reasons, and I still often think about some of these people. In some cases I know I made a mistake and should of worked harder to keep the relationship. People are complex and the best all of us can do is try to understand our feelings, acknowledge our feelings and try to make the right decisions. I know that some of the decisions I made in the past are not the decisions that I would make now. That’s the tough part – living with decisions and getting on with life.

I lost someone that I cared for maybe more than I should have. I made the mistake of telling my friend that I adored him. The next day I received an email from him letting me know that he was severing ties with me. This happen four months ago and I’m still hurt over this. I could understand if I had done something to him. If I had argued with him, but I told him that I adored him. I have to say this has made me rethink how I approach people especially men. My friend just walked away from me without a second thought. I try to go on and be my old self, but I never will. I will never be the person I was before. I ran into him about a month ago, he said nothing to me. He just looked at me like I was nothing and walked on. I was so hurt, I didn’t say anything either. What could I say? I want this pain the end. I want to forget and go on but I think about him everyday. I have never had anyone to cut all ties with me for telling them that I adored them. I would understand it better if I had cussed at him or something but I respected him and I trusted him and now he hates me. What did I do? Why did he turn on me like he did ? The “Why” question is the thing that haunts me the most.

My friend and I had a minor argument about two months ago that resulted in her ceasing all communication with me. I reached out to her twice with an apology and got nothing but a wall of silence. I was devastated at first, but I then began to shift my perspective of the situation. I realized that I was emotionally bankrupt. If we think about the emotional and mental investments we make in our friendships as a kind of ‘currency’, it makes sense that we only have so much currency to go around. When a friend demands too much of it, we go broke. If we’ve exhausted our resources tending to one difficult friendship, we have nothing left for the other important people and priorities in our lives.
I began to realize that this analogy not only suited my immediate situation, but described the friendship as a whole. My friend, I realized, was always high maintenance, demanding, self-absorbed and quite frankly, exhausting. So I guess the moral of the story is that in the economy of personal relationships, true friends should never drain your resources.

Helen, a few years ago, I was in the same position as your former friend. I felt a long-time friend had wronged me, ceased all communication with her and ignored her attempts to reconcile. She finally gave up. As time passed and my anger dissipated, I began to feel more keenly the loss of this long-time friendship. I eventually acknowledged the part I had played in the fracture, and was able to understand her position and forgive her. I came to realize my decision to stop communicating with her was cruel, cold and cowardly. I finally worked up the nerve to reach out to her and apologize, more than two years after the fracture. To my relief she accepted the overture, and we have now begun to tentatively re-establish our friendship. There’s a lot that remains unsaid between us, and we may never again have the same kind of easy intimacy shared between long-time friends, but I’m glad we’ve reconnected all the same.

Helen, your friend may eventually get over her angry pride and decide to reach out to you. Only you can decide if she is worth another chance or not. It sounds like you’re starting to move on at any rate. Good luck to you.

Hello,
I posted here previously (#61). Since my last posting, I emailed my lost friend (who I hadn’t spoken to in about 3-4 years), and basically told them everything on my mind – the feelings of regret I was having, how I wish I’d valued our friendship more, what I wish I’d done differently, etc. – My former friend responded to my email, and was glad I reached out. Even though that person & I are now both in very different places in our lives now and will probably never again be friends the way we used to be, it helped me a lot to have that email conversation with them. I think it gave me the closure I needed on the situation. Though I realize my particular situation might be different from the “lost friendship” situations of others posting here, I would definitely recommend reaching out to the lost friend (if possible) and saying whatever needs to be said to help you get closure on the situation. Even if the friendship can’t be saved, it’ll hopefully help you move on with your life without any lingering feelings of regret over things unsaid.

Hi Kelly,

Yes I’m still around. I check on here every now and then. In some ways this site helps, and it others it just reminds me of how sad I still am. I tried contact another couple of times, and now I just feel like a stalker!! so I won’t be reaching out any more. She’s made her decision and maybe one day she’ll reach out, but either way I know it’s not anything I’ve done. Something changed in her. I will never hate her, but I don’t have to like her right now. It’s been cold and cruel and had such and impact on my life probably because I never saw it coming. I’ve cut off contact from my other close friends, both of which were toxic friendships when I think about it. But there comes a time where you need to feel valued in a friendship and when you feel taken advantage of that is very difficult to get past. I still miss the good times, and I hope they are happy in there decision. I just wish I had some answers and it wasn’t so incredibly lonely. I hope you are doing well also. 🙂

[…] Death of a Friendship […]

I read your story, and I am going through ending a friendship that I thought would never end, we were best friends since the day we met when we were 13, we are 42 now. I am not going to go through the details, because there are 2 sides to every story, and I’m sure she has her side. But right now, I am the one that is avoiding her calls, I won’t go someplace I know she is going to be. Tonight I am going to ask her if she even noticed. And if she did, was she EVER going to even ask me what’s wrong, what would prompt a friend of 29 years to pull so far away, and then I am going to end the friendship, because I can’t take the fact that this was someone I thought was a true friend, and would be till the end, kind of friend, but it turns out she’s not. But for all of the commentors, if this is happening to you, you might want to “grow a set” and ask that friend what is going on. Because it is not an easy thing to do. I miss our friendship terribly. Your friend just might be sitting back waiting for you to make the first move, and since you didn’t, she knows where she stands.

Loz, sorry you are still hurting. I think losing a clise friend is extremely painful and the way your friend became was cruel. I learned that sometimes their are things going on that are outside of our control or that have really nothing to do with us. I had reached out to a friend quite a few times and didn’t understand why she was cold lately. Well this week I attended her funeral. It turned out she was suffering from depression and bulimia and I never knew. She died when her organs failed as they couldn’t handle her eating issues. Sometimes people shut us out and it has nothing to do with us. I recently reconnected with the friend above. She reached out to me and I wasn’t ready then I reached out to her and she wasn’t ready then finally she called me and gave me a heartfelt apology. She had been going through menopause and was angry at everyone and suffering from depression and it had nothing to do with me though her behavior appeared so. Though I’m still cautious we are slowly rebuilding our friendship but I will never let it slide into the problems we had before. We’ve both grown up too and want different things. Anyway I have other close friends now too and finally feel happy in that department.

One thing that really helped me is finding people with similar interests and making new friends that way. I am a writer and started going to a lot of writing groups and that helped me heal. If you have a hobby maybe a group can help. Good luck Loz!

Everyone here sounds like they would make good friends and its too bad many people who commented have been hurt. I have posted here before and honestly reading my previous posts makes me cringe a little. I wanted to update my story. A couple years ago my aunt passed away and at that time E and I were still not talking. But after my aunt died, I went to go see E and get some closure. One day in January 2012, I drove by her office and saw she was there. So I walked in and talked to her. I said I was sorry for certain things but also expressed I had been hurt by her and I had been thinking about her. She told me that she had lost a major client and that she had to move in with her former boyfriend who is 15 years older and is verbal abusive (there relationship is a roller coaster with him being verbally and emotionally abusive). I expressed concern and gradually E and I got closer again as friends. She and I did not work together but just got to know one another. That Easter E gave me a pearl pendant that I treasured ( I think it came from a relative). And we talked, texted, and saw each other a lot. I thought that E really changed and the dynamic was better. It was very special. Last year I went with E to the doctor when she found a lump- and ended up being ok. And I bought her a pedicure for her birthday. And she made a little care package for me for christmas. A few months ago E started to get more business and I was happy for her. She was hired by a furniture store to do their website. The women were about her age (mid fifties). E started to change. At the time I had been let go from a job so I was unemployed and pretty down. E wasn’t all that supportive and she started to take out her stresses on me. The “old E” started to come back. At times she would apologize and seem remorseful but she would do it again. It got to the point where E would treat me badly and wouldn’t apologize. Things came to a head a couple months ago. I asked E for help with some photos and she said to come to her office. I did and she was rude to me but nice to everyone else. I called her out on it. E and I had it out big time. I even told her that it seems like I care for you but you don’t care about me. I left very upset. Before I left E gave me a camera lens I wanted to borrow- just thrust it in my hands. So a week later I get a text with her asking for it back. She sounded very cold and mean. I tried to call her and she and I met up for lunch the week of thanksgiving. During lunch E was just rude and keep making snide remarks. I tried to talk with her and bring up how things were different between us. It was like talking to a wall. At the end of the lunch, E tried to hug me and I didn’t let her. I was so upset. What I should add to this: A few weeks back E had put some photos I had shot on her client’s web site. E admitted to me that she should have given me credit for the photos but just didn’t have the time. At the time it didn’t really bother me. But after how she treated me in her office that day- I thought I am going to tell those people that they were my photos I shot ( I had met them a couple times when E had introduced me. They had seen me take photos in their store). When I told them I had taken the photos, I said I know that E is doing a great job for you and I’m not trying to take anything away from her. And they understood and even asked me if down the road I could take a photo of them and use it in a post about thanking E for the work she had done for them. To this day, I still don’t know if E knew that I went in there. But anyway, after the lunch she and I had, I was pretty upset. I thought that maybe they had told E I went in there and talked to them about the photos. So I went into the store later that day to ask them. Of course E happened to be in there doing computer work for them. E was rude to me barely looked at me. I asked her if she could call me later and she did. During that phone call, E screamed at me and was very condescending. She got nasty with me. And the kicker was that E called me when she was still in the furniture store. At the beginning of the call she told me your on speaker phone after I had said how she treated me hurt me. And then I calmly asked her to take me off it. E totally lost it and began screaming at me all in her client’s place of business. I was totally undone. My friend whom I was with at the time was totally there for me and basically said what a witch. You were just a friend of convenience for her. Later that night I got a text from E that said to stop all the negative rhetoric. Really? The next day I wrote E a letter and dropped off some stuff she gave me at her office ( the day before Thanksgiving). And later that day I got an e-mail from her wishing me a happy thanksgiving. I didn’t pay attention to it. On Monday I got this terse e-mail from her saying thanks for my stuff back. You forgot the pearl necklace. A couple weeks later I went to see her and it ended up a disaster. I went to talk to her about how she was using a headshot I took of her on her website and how she used some of my photos on her client’s site but I wasn’t getting photo credit. E was nasty and she and I both said mean things to each other. I went to see her clients afterward and said I would like credit for these photos. And they understood and said well she is in charge of that. We will mention it to her but if you would like to use them on your own site, you can. An hour later E sent her clients an e-mail trashing me and making out like I was trying to get her. I wasn’t. So I went back to talk to them. And I talked to their employee (not the owners). I explained everything to her and she was so nice. On the way home, I called E and was like why did you do this? For five minutes I talked loudly let’s say and I just laid everything on the table. And I said the things you mentioned I do regret and am sorry for doing. I was also very very honest with her. And I said you are blaming me for everything and don’t forget you have your part in this too. I was so hurt and upset. Twenty minutes after she sent that first e-mail she sent a second one apologizing and saying she didn’t mean to infer anything bad about me, I was a good photographer etc… The next day she sent me an apology by text saying she didn’t mean to upset me and wished me a merry christmas and said I am a special and kind person. I didn’t respond cause I didn’t believe it was sincere. And I thought what is her deal?? A few hours later I got an e-mail from her so condescending and basically just stirring up a lot of crap about the photos trying to make me look bad. On the two e-mails she sent to them I responded and apologized to her clients for what had happened. After the new year one of the owners of the store called me and said we are taking down your photos- its nothing personal but we don’t want to be involved in this and we called E and told her the same thing. A few days after that I went to see E and I had the pearl pendant. She could barely look at me. E blamed me for everything. And when I told her how you have treated me has really hurt me she walked out of her office and drove away. The next day I texted her and I said I’ve been a good friend to you. I don’t understand this. What is going on? I stuck up for myself but not putting her down. She responded by saying everything was my fault, all I talk about is how she mistreats me, and that she needs space and I upset her, and that I didn’t acknowledge her birthday a week before christmas or the holidays this year. I responded by saying that I missed her on those days but I didn’t think she would have wanted to hear from me. E didn’t respond. A few days later I left a note at her office and I made her a birthday card and cards for Christmas and Thanksgiving. This was two weeks ago and I have heard nothing since. I do feel like she and I are over. Though E and I have had a turbulent friendship, this time I really did think things had changed. I guess I was wrong.

2 years on and I still feel terrible. I did something weak and stupid. I was going through a rough day, week and month. In a moment of weakness and not having anyone else to turn to. I rang my ex bestie. She didn’t answer, and I didn’t leave a msg. I shouldn’t have called but I was scared and didn’t want to be alone. (Medical issue). Then 2 days later, because she was the last person I had dialled, I accidently knocked the phone whilst driving and it started ringing. I heard her answer, panicked and hung up. She rang me straight back and left an extremely nasty msg. I didn’t answer, I couldn’t. I just explained my reasoning for calling and apologised via text. Why so I feel so bad? Perhaps it was that she was so angry? I would have never have done anything to upset her. I just feel stupid that I thought she might have been there in my time of need. Now though after that response I know I can move on. She is a very different person to the person who was my friend.

Hi Loz, I can empathize with you. It took a lot of bravery to reach out to your friend. I don’t think it was weak and stupid. It is totally on your friend for acting that way. That is her issue and shows what kind of a person she is. She doesn’t deserve a friend like you. It is her loss. People that act like your friend have no empathy and while I don’t wish anything bad on anyone, I think the way you behave toward others good & bad comes back to you. You are right for moving on. It takes time. But when someone acts like that, it is all you can do.

Hope you all manage to find some internal peace with these issues.

I have been reading all these posts and it feels good that others feel like i do.
I recently lost my best friend of 40 years. We were on and off the first maybe 10 then about 20 years ago we got back together after a death of a friend. Things have been getting more and more off track since 2011 when I had my weight loss surgery. What we had in common was going out to eat and I really cant go to restaurants because they serve too much food. So our friendship dwindled away a bit. But we kept in touch. We would go out to a movie now and then. Well about a month ago we had plans to get a salad at this local place and we made the plans on a Weds for a Sunday. Now mind you Karen has to be in control of everything so when I commited to go with her she likes rearranges her whole schedule with her husband and kids. This Sunday we were going she texted me and asked if we were still on and I really wanted to reschedule because I really didnt have the money. That is another thing she makes much more money than I do, but I didnt want to tell her that I didnt have the extra money I was embarrassed. So when she texted me I said well do you mind if we go the next Sunday instead. She went off on me. She said that I didnt have the decentcy to call her to reschedule and that since that was the case she was cancelling on me. This wasnt the first time she went off on me so I basically told her I didnt appreciate being spoken to that way yet again. She said she had alot on her plate etc.. I said I did too. I do I am busy all the time. So basically the last time she did it to me I called her the next day telling her I was sorry etc so we remained friends but I think this time she just really wanted it to end. It was so sudden and I am so hurt. But I wont beg her to be my friend. Am I wrong?

The comments here are precious. Yes, i am here, too because I think my friendship of nearly 15 years is dying. Probably no one ever that I have been so intimate with or share so deeply with. But also, over the last few years, have been hearing from her things that seem so unlike who she is. Hateful comments based on ignorance and irrational thinking. Rejecting things that she knows nothing about but refuses to learn before discounting it. It is parroting things from her religion. Yet, she is one of the kindest people I know. It really bothers me to hear those things. In many ways we have such different interests, beliefs outlooks yet have some core values in common. I am finding myself getting more and more annoyed by the things she says. More and more I have been growing this year more and more into widely different outlook and we are growing in different directions.

We know each other’s warts. One of hers is she is a people pleaser and a compulsive doer to her own detriment and then burns out. Her idea of rest is like me on fast track. She is in burn out now including getting sick. Then tells me all the things she is doing all the while repeatedly getting sick. While she is sick, she is out running around taking care of people. The last time we communicated was over a month ago when she said she was too sick to call or write. Will no longer share with me like we have for the last 14+ years. Does not want to hear me say anything that is not joyful.
So, I want to support her need for space. I do not call. I eagerly wait to hear from her how she is doing. Then the emails and texts start. Factual accountings of her activities, her to do list, her daily schedule, comments that she is taking care of herself, that she went to a family reunion and painted. None of which tells me how she is doing. Not one, how is your day? Then accountings of a crisis in the life relative of a friend of hers. Please pray. That really got to me. After sitting on hold, being told the new rules. say only positive things, don’t call me, I’ll call you. She dumps all this endless negative list of things she has to do and does not know if she can and then asks me to pray for her and this other person having a crisis.
I look back at how very much we have always been there for each other. We were the first ones to call with little things both joys and tears, ups and downs. Now she says she can no longer do that because she is so tired all the time. Yet can not seem to quit the obsessive doing.

Oh my……I think we have been growing in different directions over this last year. What has happened the last month or so I am feeling that we can not go back. That we have no more common ground with which to communicate. I am ready to let this one go but not sure how to do it. Let it die or say something. We have always known we were different in many ways yet always felt this deep connection and respect. I am losing the respect when I hear so many ignorant, judegemental irrational things from someone I always saw as so loving and kinds and non-judegemental. I feel sad and relived at the same time.

For KLB… I allowed a friendship of 20 years to die in much the same way that yours is now dying.

I must tell you I now deeply regret that I did not do more to save the friendship. Long-term, intimate friendships are rare and precious things indeed, and they become rarer as we get older. At the same time, it does take two to keep a friendship , and its sounds like yours is on life support.

I would tell her honestly how much you miss the closeness you once shared. Do not judge her, but tell her you are surprised to hear her express negative opinions about other people and beliefs she once tolerated. Ask her what has changed. Don’t avoid her to “give her space.” She may need friends more than ever now.

Or you could just let the friendship die, but truthfully it sounds like you’re not ready to do that yet.

Good luck.

Sadly I feel a great friendship is dying too. I feel mostly responsible. Strange in a conversation where I was frustrated at not getting my voice heard ( we talked more than daily and have been friends for over 30 yrs) I hung up. I knew immediately it was the wrong approach; texted and called for three days and nothing. Sadly, had she taken my call she could have realized what drove my actions and listened to a true apology that I felt I needed to make. Instead her anger festered and my insecurity grew. Fast forward to where we talked it through, not only did I now need to apologize for hanging up, there was a longer list of wrongs I had committed over the last months True I really felt I was leaning hard on my life long friend but was devesated to know that I had been wronging her for a long time. as we talked it through she said the slate was clean and said we could more forward. This is what I really wanted, however, my insecurity has riddled my mind and heart and seemingly unable to be myself. Sadly, it has effected my footings with my other friends, even with my husband and oddly my children. In anger and sadness I sometimes reflect that as friends for over thirty years we never fought (of course we didn’t always have the same views) but the one time I try to voice an opinion and couldn’t ( and subsequently frustrated ) and then it feels irrevocably changed. I have taken responsibility but it really has changed my view on myself and how I relate to others. So I watch the friendship slowly disintegrate and not sure if I am capable of any close friendships at this point.