Perspective
I feel officially thrown for a loop. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how a good friend of mine and I were growing apart. She and her husband had lived in LA for a year and the four of us couldn't have been closer. When they moved back to NYC, we stayed very much in touch and had one of our greatest weekends there last Memorial Day visiting them. So when they came out to visit a few weeks ago, I was very confused as to why she was so distant.
Initially of course, I assumed it was something I had done. Had I changed since the last time she saw me? I honestly analyzed my behavior that weekend and came to the conclusion that I was pretty sure it wasn't something I had done. Maybe she was going through something? Was her relationship okay? Well, it sure seemed like it was. Her job? She seemed to really like it.
After all of your advice, and after speaking to mutual friends of ours, I decided to approach her and casually ask if everything was ok with her. Over IM, naturally. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Hey!
Her: Hey
Me: How are you?
Her: ok. you?
Me: good, same ol' shit. Why just ok?
Her: just work and stuff
Me: I get that. Did you guys have fun in LA?
Her: Yeah it was really fun
Me: I felt like we didn't get to chat as much as we normally do :)
Her: Yeah... well, it's 5 - my day is over... talk soon?
I'm not gonna lie - I felt so snubbed and almost a bit floored. Why, all of a sudden was she acting so cold to me? I'm also very close with her husband, and when he IM'd me the next day, I felt I should ask him what he thought. He also reiterated what a fun time they had in LA, and when I asked him if his wife was ok because I felt something was up, he immediately said "yeah, everythings fine" and then quickly ended the conversation.
Last Friday night, I had dinner with the girl that introduced us. I decided to ask her what she thought. She agreed with me that something was definitely a little strange. We both know that the girl has never been one of those overly affectionate, over the top girls, but we felt we were even getting less than what we normally would. Plus, she hadn't returned any emails that my friend sent to her. Immediately, we started to think of what could possibly be the problem.
"Maybe she's pregnant?"
"No, she had a couple of drinks while she was here."
"Maybe he wants to move back to LA and she doesn't so she was trying to sabatoge the trip"
"Could be it!"
"Maybe she is just miserable at her job?"
"Possibly. But that's one of the only things she lights up about."
"Maybe she and her husband are fighting a lot?"
"That could be it. But they seemed so happy when they were here."
Oh well, we chatted about it, and then moved on. I basically came to the conclusion that I tried, and if she wants to talk to me about something, well then I am here. Ball's in her court.
Yesterday evening, I get an email from her. She acknowledged that she has been distant and hasn't really kept in touch. She then went on to say that her family has had a really hard few weeks. Her mom had been going through all of these medical tests because she had a lingering cough but otherwise felt fine and just a week ago, was diagnosed with lung cancer.
I just couldn't believe what I was reading. Of course she seemed subdued and distant, she didn't know about the cancer the weekend we saw her, but she did know that something was wrong that her mom was undergoing various medical tests for. The day she got back to NY, she discovered this horrific news.
My friend that I had dinner with and I talked on the phone last night, and felt horrible that we even laughed about why she wasn't as sweet as she normally is. She also spoke to another friend who knew more details, and it looks like the cancer has already spread and she has basically been given 1 year to live.
This has affected me more than I would think it could. I could not get it off my mind last night - I called my own mom and dad and talked to them. When I was laying in bed, I just felt so sad for my friend, her mom, and their family. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to hear this news about someone you love. And the kind of cancer too! If she had gotten breast cancer even, it would be more of an "alright, we can BEAT this!" Her mom is still trying to fight it, they started her first round of chemo last Friday.
I just feel so helpless and so badly for her.