My friend broke up with me!

My LOL friends and I used to have a friend, another avid cross stitcher, whom I will call (for the sake of anonymity) Eileen. Eileen was just as nutty as the rest of us, and a lot of fun. I met her when I first moved to Oklahoma, and since she was also a divorced old lady – my exact age, in fact – we hung around together quite often, even without the other LOLs.

After we’d all been friends for a couple years, something happened that made Eileen stop hanging around with the other LOLs. She and I did still hang around, though; we went for a walk every morning, sat up late on weekend nights playing games or stitching (and laughing), etc., just as we always had done.

Then one day, Eileen decided she and I couldn’t be friends. Boiled down to its most basic cause, we could not be friends because I was still friends with the other LOLs. I was shocked and sad. My feelings were hurt. I felt bereft.

At that time, the LOLs met every Wednesday to stitch and laugh. Eileen quit being my friend on a Monday, and when I met the other LOLs that Wednesday, I was still upset that my friend no longer wanted to be my friend.

When I told the LOLs “Eileen broke up with me!” they laughed and laughed, not at the end of the friendship, but that I said we broke up. To this day, anytime Eileen is mentioned (which is not often, but she was a big part of our lives for several years, so she does come up), someone will say, “She broke up with Jackie Lucy,” and laughter results.

A few years ago, a group of LOLs were at a stitching retreat and Eileen showed up at the retreat. She pointedly refused to look our way again once she saw us, and was unfortunately so obvious in her avoidance tactics that a lady we had just met and with whom we were sharing a table queried us about Eileen and her behavior. Someone explained we used to all be friends with her, especially me, and said, “But she broke up with Jackie Lucy.” The lady laughed just as hard as the rest of us at that – which is part of how she became our new friend!

I’ve never seen Eileen since that retreat, although I have read her blog and have seen her comments on the Facebook pages of cross-stitch shops we all frequent. I doubt she’s read my blogs, but if she has, I hope she remembers the LOLs in the good old days when we were all friends and all had such great times together.

Eileen, if you read this and recognize yourself, Hi! I wish you hadn't broken up with me! And, just so you know (and feel free to laugh about this) I still haven't woven the ends in on that baby blanket. Yeah. I'm rolling my eyes, too.