Waaaaait a minute...

I suspect I was friend-dumped this weekend. Nothing concrete, mind. Just a suspicion.

It was very subtly done. A sort of hey-there email, mixed with a sorry-I've-been-out-of-touch-for-no-reason. A few other things thrown in, all wrapped up with a maybe-I'll-try-and-keep-in-touch.

Huh.

The impact of the email didn't hit me for a day. For the moment, I was glad to hear from a pal I've rarely seen or talked to. Then yesterday, the doubts crept in. Suddenly I wondered if the congenial tone wasn't a little too dimissive. The interest somewhat forced. And at the same time, a very clear invisible hand keeping a slightly clinical distance. It seemed, very clearly, that it was a friendly gesture of "Stay the fuck away, except for remaining on each other's mailing lists."

I was like, "What the fuck?!" followed by "Did I just get friend-dumped through email?"

Perhaps I'm reading too much into this. Those of us brought up and trained to read in between the itty-bitty lines sometimes look too close. But at the same time, sometimes we don't look at all, for fear of overanalyzing.

But I feel somewhat ill-used.
It's unnerving.

It's almost likely I've been half-heartedly shelved for storage.
"Dammit, where did I put that friend I had ages ago? Ah, here she is--" [blows dust off, inadvertently breaking off a limb] "--a friend right when I needed one." Then I would be asked to babysit, or perhaps sponsor some charity run or somesuch, before being returned to the shelf behind a jar of poorly-preserved beets.

Or perhaps, I'm just entirely too paranoid. In which case, I'd best order myself another one of those white white jackets with extra-long sleeves.