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Military Brides

(Former??) Best Friend, Long-ish, semi-WR

Background: I went to small Catholic schools my whole life. Like, had 54 people in my graduating class, 360 total in grades 7-12 small. I have many of the same friends now I had when I was 5, most of my best friends fall into the same section of the alphabet because that's how they divided classes.

Now: Although she went to a separate private school for junior high/high school, I have had the same "best friend" for over 20 years. She had always been there for me, even though we've always been like chalk and cheese. I'm outspokenly liberal, she's quietly conservative; I had a pretty promiscuous phase in college, she's still a virgin; I like Guinness, she thinks it tastes like meat; and so on and so on. I have always loved her, and we have always looked past our grievances, until the past few years.

It started with my boyfriend before the FI, who I started dating right after she and I moved in together. He was and is a nice guy, but she, based on a serious amount of nothing at all, absolutely refused to speak to him nearly the entire time we dated. I mean, not a damn word, even if spoken to. It put me in the middle, and even when I talked to her about it, it was just "I don't like him" and that's that. Fast forward a few months, the boy and I break up. Not for any specific reason other than, as a very dear friend said,"You guys have good days, but you never have good weeks; you might have a good weekend, but you never have a good month." My friend, D, starts talking to my ex almost immediately after we break up. He's invited to parties at our house, he goes to an anime convention with her and their mutual friends (they went to the same pretty small college, lots of mutual people).

At this point, I am seeing the FI, and she starts pulling the silent treatment shiznit again. He's kind of sensitive about things like that, he was homeschooled and never really socialized well before we met and he has kind of a large chip on his shoulder concerning people raised with a degree of wealth, which D was/is (still gets an allowance from Daddy). He and I are working on his issues with that, and it's gotten a lot better. He's always been respectful of her to her face, and he loved her dog when I was living there.

Then I lost my job, and she started doing things like monitoring when I was using the Netflix streaming or  monitoring when I was using FB when I had the chat function on. It was a really stressful time for me, and she started in on this literally 4 days after I had lost a job I had for 3 years. I was still paying her rent (she owned the house). The ignoring of FI has continued to this day. She basically treats me as though I am single but not looking. It's not like she acknowledges that he exists and she doesn't like him, it's like he just doesn't exist.

Now, FI basically thinks she's a total C U Next Tuesday, and doesn't want me to have anything to do with her, but it's hard for me to give up someone I have so much history with. I'll admit, I always thought that she and her sister (who I am very close to, and who likes the FI) would stand up for me at my wedding. But I can't see someone even putting on a dress and standing beside me who hasn't spoken a single word to FI in three years. He flat out doesn't even want her at the wedding, but I don't think I can go that far, I am close to both of her sisters and her parents, and I can't invite them without her and not feel like an awful person.

I'm meeting up with her when I fly back to MS, because I want to talk to her and let her know what's going on (she knows about the engagement, me moving to P-cola). I want her to know that this is happening whether she likes it or not, and I would like her to at least attend the wedding and be nice about it (she has a reputation for extreme passive aggression at things she doesn't like). I know everyone is asking, "Why in the hell are you still even friendly with her?," but I just can't throw away 20 years of history.

A small point to make: she has slways been the center of attention with the boys since she's been in her 20s. She grew into her looks, and also takes great pride in being thin adn wearing very short skirts and wild clothes and weird make-up. I've always been the more voluptuous curvy one, which I think has given her confidence.  And thin is totally fine, but I think she's always secretly thought that she was the prettier more innocent one and would get married first.

TL;DR: I have an until recently was a very close friend who won't acknowledge FI; what to do?
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Re: (Former??) Best Friend, Long-ish, semi-WR

  • calindicalindi member
    5000 Comments Second Anniversary Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    She doesn't sound like she's being much of a friend.  And history isn't worth much, in my opinion, when she's historically shown great disrespect for people you care about.

    I really respect that you want to stay friends with her, but I honestly couldn't have someone in my life who showed that much repeated disrespect for me.  I mean, Netflix streaming and Facebook don't cost anything, so why would she monitor it?  It means nothing to her, so that's just sort of controlling and weird.

    And seriously, at this stage, your FI needs to be the most important person in your life.  More than your parents, more than your friends.  That doesn't mean you ignore people, but that you place your FI in a higher place in your life since you're choosing to build a future with him.  And the way your 'friend' treats your FI is incredibly disrespectful to you.  If a friend doesn't like your FI, that's fine, but there are more mature ways to go about handling the situation.  She actually sounds a little unbalanced.

    I think what you do is just lay it out there, and stand up for him!  You tell her, "This is what I'm doing, I'm very happy about it, and I'm hurt that you won't put aside whatever your objections are to at least be happy for me.  If you have any serious concerns, I'd be happy to hear them and discuss them, but from this day forward I'd appreciate it if you showed my fiance the respect of at least acknowledging him if he speaks to you.  Being that rude to him hurts my feelings, and I take it as a personal insult."

    You definitely don't want someone standing up at your wedding who doesn't support you as a couple.  I probably wouldn't even want her there as a guest, but I don't put nearly as much stock in historical length of friendship but rather quality of friends.

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  • iluvmytxrgriluvmytxrgr member
    Knottie Warrior 1000 Comments 25 Love Its Name Dropper
    edited December 2011
    I know it's hard to let go of a friendship that you have had for most of your life, but this person is not your friend. 
    I had a friend very similar to yours.  Everytime I started dating someone, she either tried to cecome  their best friend or she hated them.  There was no in between. 
    Before the end of college, she had been engaged to three different guys.  When I divorced my XH, she started hanging out with him more.  When I met H, she didn't like him.  When I got pg, she told me I could at least wait until she had married one guy before I started another family with my second.  0_o 
    She had been dating a guy for over a year and was making out with another guy in my garage one night.  Two weeks later she was engaged to the boyfriend and in mad planning mode.  She chose to have a small wedding party and asked her sister and FI's sister to be her BMs.  I'm a big girl, I understood and was not hurt by it.  She then called me and said she wanted me to be involved in the wedding.  I told her I'd be honored.  Then she says she can't afford a bartender and wanted to know if I would do that for her.  She said she would even let me buy the $150 dress so I would feel included and I could put out a tip jar.  Double 0_o. 
    I called her back a few days later and told her that I appretiated the offer but wouldn't be able to do it.  I would be 8 months pregnant at the time and didn't think standing for that long was a good idea.  She had also chosen my oldest child's birthday for her wedding and I needed to spend part of that day with him and would not be able to be at the entire reception. 
    That's when she went off on me.  She told me I could spend any day with my son.  He has a birthday every year and she only gets married once.  I didn't get an invite to the wedding.  She hasn't spoken to me since then.  It makes me sad that our friendship ended that way, but I'm not upset about it anymore. 
    BTW, she was divorced 2 years later.  She just got remarried.  So much for that one wedding thing. 
    I say invite her to the wedding but start limiting your time with her.  You'll see that you are much better off with her at a distance.  (sorry that got so long)
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  • kyrgyzstankyrgyzstan member
    Eighth Anniversary 1000 Comments 100 Love Its Name Dropper
    edited December 2011
    FI had a friend like this. When we started dating, if I went to FI's house and the friend was there, he'd get up and leave. He said not nice things about me to other people, etc. 

    They're not friends anymore. I don't want people in my life without a modicum of civility, and if I were your FI, I'd be hurt by your attempts to stand by this girl as she blatantly disrespects him. You're a unit now. Same team. I look at my relationship like hockey. We work hard together, we have fun together, and if someone high sticks FI, I will drop gloves. That's what getting married is IMO. The promise to be team your FI (especially in public) forever (or until he commits a felony/dealbreaker).
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  • LuluP82LuluP82 member
    500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_military-brides_former-friend-long-ish-semi-wr?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:13Discussion:fb26d21e-1dec-44ca-9078-f482031c03bbPost:e0fd3744-cb32-4afb-970d-58b8ef402cf2">Re: (Former??) Best Friend, Long-ish, semi-WR</a>:
    [QUOTE]FI had a friend like this. When we started dating, if I went to FI's house and the friend was there, he'd get up and leave. He said not nice things about me to other people, etc.  They're not friends anymore. I don't want people in my life without a modicum of civility, and <strong>if I were your FI, I'd be hurt by your attempts to stand by this girl as she blatantly disrespects him. You're a unit now. Same team. I look at my relationship like hockey. We work hard together, we have fun together, and if someone high sticks FI, I will drop gloves. That's what getting married is IMO. The promise to be team your FI (especially in public) forever</strong> (or until he commits a felony/dealbreaker).
    Posted by WishIcouldbeinthe'stan[/QUOTE]

    Exactly what Stan says. I haven't spoken to my so-called best friend from college in 5 years, because when I first started dating H, she was a total a$$ to him. I gave her a chance in that I had a very candid conversation about how I felt and how I felt about H. When she seemed unable to be normal, I realized that she was actually the most selfish person I'd ever met, and that she wasn't really my friend. It was no big loss. I can't imagine had I stuck by her and not H! If H had a friend who acted that way around me, you better believe they wouldn't be friends anymore.
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  • LetsHikeTodayLetsHikeToday member
    2500 Comments Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011

    Can I ask a sensitive question? When you were living together, did you have your boyfriend over a lot? I hope you don't take that the wrong way, sometimes it's hard to convey meaning on a message board :-)

    The only reason why I asked was because my old roommate and I had MAJOR issues when we lived together and she had a boyfriend. He was over every day, had a key and I didn't know it, and did his laundry/used out internet/showered and slept there everynight without ever helping. Obviously I didn't like him too much :-)

    But anyway, said friend and I got over it and she was my MOH. If your friend can't be happy for you, then I think it's time to move on.

    I like what someone said about you being a unit. Not that you ALWAYS have to be together but you now have a family and if a friend can't support that, I'd say see you later.

    It's a tough thing to do, VERY tough but it's worth it. One of the beautiful things about growing up is you have a voice and you can choose the good people to have in your life.

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  • YoungDuoYoungDuo member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_military-brides_former-friend-long-ish-semi-wr?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:13Discussion:fb26d21e-1dec-44ca-9078-f482031c03bbPost:c7cfa981-be05-4f45-b9d2-438471f4960d">Re: (Former??) Best Friend, Long-ish, semi-WR</a>:
    [QUOTE]It's a tough thing to do, VERY tough but it's worth it. One of the beautiful things about growing up is you have a voice and you can choose the good people to have in your life.
    Posted by LetsHikeToday[/QUOTE]

    I know I'm coming in a little late on this, but this is probably the best piece of advice. I've had to let go of a friend for similar reasons as you. But Let'sHikeToday is right, you can choose who to have in your life and you dont need (nor anyone else)  to have people who don't treat you like a friend in your life. Life is too short to waste worrying about things like that.
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  • divinemsbeedivinemsbee member
    1000 Comments Third Anniversary 5 Love Its
    edited December 2011
    You're right, you're right, I know you're right (said as Carrie Fisher from When Harry Met Sally).
     I think this is one of those things that's been a long time coming, and I just needed to hear it. For a lot of our lives together, I've been the one making excuses for her, the whole "Oh, D, it's just how she is" thing, and I came to the conclusion recently that she's entirely too young to need excuses like that. My 93 year old grandpa gets to use the "he's just like that" card, a 27 year old doesn't. I'm going to meet up with her mainly because I still have some things in her storage shed that are worth it to get back, and that's probably going to be that. If she asks anything about FI or the move, I'll just tell her that life's going to be difficult enough, and I can't have a person around who will second-guess all the time.
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  • edited December 2011

    I'm totally budding in here before reading what everyone else has said, I know it's bad.
    I've been in a similar situation, but this is what I'm going to say:
    It really doesn't sound like she is much of a friend at all. A friend in my book is somewhere who is there for you, cares about your happiness, and doesn't turn her back when you need her. She doesn't sound like a friend. It's harder than hell to realize a long term friendship isn't what it used to be. Having gone through so much together, for it only to fizzle out sucks, and honestly hurts. It's understandable for you to want her at your wedding, she's been an important part of your life for so long. But there comes a time to cut ties. I'd make it clear that you don't appreciate her ignoring your FI and that if she was really your friend she would realize how important he is to you. If she can't do that, then she has no buisness being part of your life.

    It sucks, I know, but I myself am in a very very similar situation, and it's hard. But it's better to have positive people in your life rather than debbie downers. If you need someone to vent to feel free to PM me :)

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