"Well just let me know what day of what week works best for you, and no, gambling is the dumbest thing ever. If I'm going to give my money to someone they're going give me a bag full of stuff."
That was the last email I sent to an old friend I had just reconnected with at the end of January. It had been over 20 years since we had seen or spoken to each other.
I was trying to find her through classmates.com and we each logged in so infrequently that out messages were too few and far between to actually get any information. In January I received a Twitter message saying my friend was following me and we communicated via Twitter and email for a few days and then she came to my house that Sunday evening.
We talked for a few hours and it was amazing the similarities in our families. She has a gay son, I have a gay son. She has a daughter dealing with a drug problem, my daughter had worked through her drug problem. Her ex was an asshole substance abuser who didn't participate in his childrens' lives and so was mine.
Eventually the talk turned to the man she has spent the last 15 plus years with. He is older than her and is very wealthy. I have to say I am a tad jealous that she can and does have any material item she wants.
Don't get me wrong, I don't dream of receiving expensive gifts from anyone and certainly not from an old friend's companion who I never met, so I'm sure I didn't send out any negative vibes.
But, for a few days following her visit, and after a number of lengthy and chatty emails between us we mentioned getting together again. She asked if I'd been to the new casinos in Pittsburgh and would I like to go. She also mentioned that she was busy the upcoming weekend, so my response was; Well just let me know what day of what week works best for you, and no, gambling is the dumbest thing ever. If I'm going to give my money to someone they're going give me a bag full of stuff.
I've never heard from my friend again. She never replied to that email or a another that I sent, and never returned a phone call.
I thought maybe I sounded curt considering the other emails were long. I considered I sounded insulting because I don't want to gamble. I thought maybe I sounded pissed because she couldn't get together that weekend. I pulled this email up 3 or 4 times and re-read it, and I just don't get it.
This woman spent the last 5 years studying to be a writer so if she got all butt hurt over a simple email then she better go study some more because even I know a sentence can be perceived 5 different ways by 5 different people.
At first I was feeling guilty and confused, but after four months, I'm just pissed. Still confused, but no more guilt.
