Feeling rather upset
I got a surprise in my mail today. I heard from my friend's daughter. She graduated from high school the beginning of this month. I couldn't believe she turned 18 this year. Anyway I sent her a card and some money as a gift. I hadn't expected to hear from her. So I thought it was a thank you note. The first sentence is a thank you for the card. Then the note goes on to talk about how she feels about me, stuff that happened when we all lived together. Some things about me hiding in my room, I kept my door closed so the cats couldn't get in. She has dyslexia and I know she had problems reading. I tried to encourage her to read as much as I could, but without her parents support there was nothing I could do. I tried to get her to be responsible for cleaning up both her room and her guinea pigs cages. Being a big animal lover I took care of the animals I had in my life. She already neglected the fish she had and some hamsters she had adopted from a neighbor's daughter (she was friends with) the neighbor's mother didn't want the hamsters anymore. So Lynne adopted them. The hamsters had babies, I had to step in to sex them so we could separate them so they wouldn't have anymore babies. But eventually they all died. So did the fish. I asked her to clean the guinea pig cages. And she'd look at me like I was out of my mind.
I tried my best to survive in that crazy house. She does say she was sorry for not being responsible. And mentions being bullied (I knew that she was being bullied, that was why her mom enrolled her in Kung Fu classes, but the daughter didn't go to them for long. ) She said she thinks I'd like Oregon, mentions that if we met we could go out to coffee, or just to talk.
She says she hated some things I did, I tickled her once in a blue moon. Other stuff she said, some were nice, others got me angry.
I'm not sure if I should respond, or what I should say.
I just feel upset.
Replies
In this case scenerio I would not mail her back immediately. You’re unsure if you should at all. I would take a few days to think about it and make up your mind. There shouldn’t be any pressure. If you’re not open to visiting maybe eventually say coffee sounds great, but I’m quite busy right now. I’m glad to hear from you and....
Have some tea, read a book, please send me a title of one of your published books.
I had a hamster once. Poor thing tried to make it down a tube on her last day. She didn’t get far. But hey she tried. I’m proud of a hamster. I really am.
I agree with Laurie. I would wait for a while and let the initial emotions settle before deciding whether and how to respond. I'm sorry that some of what she said was hurtful and/or inaccurate. One thing to keep in mind is that she's 18. Honestly, that's still a child. I know that my perspectives at 18 were very different from what they are now. Also, she obviously cares about you or she wouldn't have suggested meeting for coffee someday. I think ultimately a response may be warranted, assuming you want to maintain a relationship with her. But, that doesn't have to happen right now. I hope you feel better soon. Hugs.