As I get more and more into animal rescue as a part of my day to day life, I find that the gap that exists between myself and some of my most longtime friends just widens and deepens, until at some point there is just no way to bridge it.
So the decision gets made to simply stop trying.
I broke up with someone who had been my good friend for a number of years. Though the reasons were actually numerous, the final dealbreaker was her family's continued support of Craigslist backyard breeders.
When we were younger, we were best friends. At some point, however, she became my bully, my tormentor. Stupid home videos with her and her friends making fun of me, mugging for the camera and doing public service announcements and smugly delivering faux news broadcasts warning of my evil nature.
Dude. I was 16.
At some point I moved past that, when I lived with the man who was the best friend of the man she married. Those two had been lifelong friends, and in order to maintain harmony, I had to just swallow down the years of pain and resentment and pretend like I was happy to have her back in my life.
We did truly grow close again, but the friendship was lopsided; she took and took and gave very little in return. Her pursuit of motherhood is what she will blame for our eventual, inevitable drift - but the motherhood was not the issue. It was her abandonment that was the issue; I've never spawned a child, so I was no longer welcome in her world. Her new friends were the ones with motherhood in common; the Mom's Club would go for their dinners or binge drinking while dutiful husbands watched the children - the childfree ones were forgotten and left behind like so much detritus in the alley after trash day.
But even all of that, I could overlook - or at least, I tried - until the second purchase of a Craigslist dog. Look, I know not everyone is interested in rescue - but she was one of my closest friends. She knew what I struggled with daily. And yet, they bought another Craigslist dog.
Forget this, just forget it. I know I'm better off for it.
When we were younger, we were best friends. At some point, however, she became my bully, my tormentor. Stupid home videos with her and her friends making fun of me, mugging for the camera and doing public service announcements and smugly delivering faux news broadcasts warning of my evil nature.
Dude. I was 16.
At some point I moved past that, when I lived with the man who was the best friend of the man she married. Those two had been lifelong friends, and in order to maintain harmony, I had to just swallow down the years of pain and resentment and pretend like I was happy to have her back in my life.
We did truly grow close again, but the friendship was lopsided; she took and took and gave very little in return. Her pursuit of motherhood is what she will blame for our eventual, inevitable drift - but the motherhood was not the issue. It was her abandonment that was the issue; I've never spawned a child, so I was no longer welcome in her world. Her new friends were the ones with motherhood in common; the Mom's Club would go for their dinners or binge drinking while dutiful husbands watched the children - the childfree ones were forgotten and left behind like so much detritus in the alley after trash day.
But even all of that, I could overlook - or at least, I tried - until the second purchase of a Craigslist dog. Look, I know not everyone is interested in rescue - but she was one of my closest friends. She knew what I struggled with daily. And yet, they bought another Craigslist dog.
Forget this, just forget it. I know I'm better off for it.
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