Oh, hello long-time friend. No, you’re right, you haven’t seen much of me lately. Actually, there’s a reason for that: I’m avoiding you. Why? Because of this:
Why would I get my nose of out of joint over this? True, it’s not really any of my business because I wasn’t the recipient, but when our mutual friend forwarded it to me, I couldn’t help but share her sense of shock.
You see, it’s not just that your spelling, grammar and punctuation are horrifying, it’s that you haven’t actually spoken to our mutual friend in FOUR YEARS.
You started sulking when she didn’t immediately rush over to meet your son after he was born, but rather than try to initiate contact yourself, you gave her the silent treatment. You then spent the next four years complaining to me that she never got in touch with you. I passed along some of your regrets, leaving out the blame and trying to make it sound like you were sorry that contact had been lost, but our mutual friend merely said that “Communication is a two-way street and I don’t see her trying to get in touch with me either” and left it at that (truthfully, I don’t think she was sorry to lose you).
When you left a message on my answering machine the other day asking for our mutual friend’s phone number, you only said you were thinking of visiting her while you were in the area with your kids. You didn’t mention that you were hoping to use her as a free babysitting service while you went off to run your business. Was this because you knew how rude you were being and were ashamed to tell me? Or did you think I wouldn’t give you her phone number if I knew what you were up to?
Meanwhile, what about your poor kids? It bothers me that you want to dump your six- and four-year-old children with a stranger for the day - and she is a stranger to them. She hasn’t seen your daughter since she was two, and she’s never seen your son at all. Being left in the home of a stranger who has neither children of her own nor toys for them to play with doesn’t compare with sending them to daycare with other kids in a centre that’s designed for children. Going to a play centre with a stranger hardly seems better, frankly. Just because she worked in daycare six years ago doesn’t mean she wants to spend half her weekend with two children she doesn’t even know in order to help out a person who hasn’t spoken to her in four years.
So, I’m avoiding you. If I do see you, I know I’m going to be hard-pressed to hold my tongue and not tell you what I think of your email, but I also don’t really feel it’s my place to do so. If anyone should have anything to say, it’s our mutual friend, but she restrained herself to a four word reply: “Um no can do” - she told me she feared if she said more, she’d never be able to stop. This has been an unpleasant insight into your character and I’m not sure I want to see you any more.
You’re a user, your email made that clear. Would you ever have bothered to contact our friend if you hadn’t needed something from her? I really don’t think so, “sweetie”.
When the Mom comes back say “I haven’t seen you in 4 years, who’d possibly think that you’d leave your kids with me?” :eek:
