A Request From A Friend

I have this one lady in my society , who meant a lot to me and my family once upon a time. We have known each other for more than 8 to 10 years. Earlier she used to visit us once or twice a week. If she hears any news about any of us, she would come knocking at the door for more clarity. She is generally very outspoken with anyone and everyone sees her as a very good friend. She is not lazy to cook or share a tiffin with anyone in the society, if they are sick or has any problems. All this comes very easy to her and she doesn't even see it as an effort.
Few years back when a tragedy happened with us, she helped us immensely. She became a star and was known to even many more people because of her proactiveness during the incident. She became known in many community groups after that. She was then getting invitation to be a member of such groups to which she agreed too. Also she started getting many new friends who matched her wavelength and nature. A series of bad incidents were happening in my family and when she was asking about it, her comments started hurting me. She started saying how bad your time in life is. For anything bad happening she would keep saying , how bad , how sad it's happening to you. I started getting the feeling that she is actually not empathising with me but only to satisfy her curiosity she is asking the personal questions.

She also gradually reduced sharing her life stories with us during this time. Now in the recent 6 to 8 months, as she started getting new friends, her interactions reduced to zero. Earlier she used to call for kids notes too a few times a week, but now she has found new friends who can help with that too.

I was just analysing the changes in her behaviour. She has grown as a person. Earlier she had 3 best friends, now 5 to 10 best friends to hang out. Another health issue in my family last month and she did not even once bother to come and visit us nor enquire about it, though she knew about it. No casual phone calls now a days, no effort to meet n talk, even if we accidentally meet, then nothing to talk about. If meeting in groups then not talking to me directly and behaving like she is the main member in the group and I am an outsider. One more thing I noticed was that my kid is academically scoring better than hers. So even though studies can be a topic of discussion, she just avoid such topics in group meetings. Everyday she comes to my neighbours house but no knocking on the door now. Was she fake then or now?

Her behaviour was actually bothering me a lot. A friend behaving like a stranger. And today I get a call from her with a request to allow my kid to participate in a community program which she is arranging. I am very much annoyed at her. If she could dial down a friendship, I could also say no to her request straight way. But thinking of the day, when she helped me, should I allow my kid to participate in the program.

 

I agreed for my kids participation in her program and she was talking to me nicely after that.