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Friend Who Abandoned A Grieving Widow Comes Crawling Back For Sympathy, Gets An Ice-Cold Rejection
Grieving woman on phone looking distressed at home, reflecting pain and silence during emotional moment.

Woman Seeks Comfort From SIL After Losing Her Baby, Shocked When SIL Brings Up The Missed Memorial

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In a long-term friendship, you show up for the big, terrible moments. You answer the late-night call, you sit through the funeral, you offer a shoulder to cry on. It’s a non-negotiable pact of mutual support. Even moreso when your friendship ties deepen and become family connections.

But some people don’t read through the whole friendship manual. For one woman, a friend who became her SIL became dependent on her support for years, but then vanished during her darkest hour. However, when that same friend returned, desperate for help, she was met with a cold shoulder instead of an open door.

More info: Reddit

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    A true friendship is supposed to be a two-way street, but one person could close the road when it suits them, even in the other’s darkest hour

    Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

    For years, a woman was the sole emotional and financial support for her best friend’s heartbreaking infertility journey

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    Image credits: gpointstudio / Freepik (not the actual photo)

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    But when the narrator got pregnant, her friend’s support turned to silence, and she was cut off completely

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    Image credits: freepik /Freepik (not the actual photo)

    The biggest betrayal came when her friend refused to attend her own brother’s funeral, leaving the pregnant widow to grieve alone

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    Image credits: The Yuri Arcurs Collection / Freepik (not the actual photo)

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    Years later, the friend returned, her own life in ruins, begging for the help she had once refused to give

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    Image credits:

    The narrator made it clear that she felt no sympathy and did not want anything to do with her former bestie and sister-in-law

    For 15 years, this OP was the definition of a day-one friend. She supported her best friend, Daisy, through a seven-year emotional black hole of infertility, miscarriages, and a deeply unsympathetic husband. She and her own husband, Dan (Daisy’s brother), were Daisy’s entire support system, even putting their own career ambitions on hold to stay close and care for her.

    But the moment the OP got pregnant, that 15-year friendship evaporated. Daisy, unable to handle her friend’s happiness, cut her off completely. This emotional exile reached its peak of cruelty when Dan had a fatal car accident. The narrator, now a grieving, pregnant widow, begged her best friend to attend her own brother’s funeral. Daisy refused, hung up, and left her to grieve alone.

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    Two years later, after the narrator had moved away and built a new life, the emotional boomerang came flying back. Daisy called from an unknown number, her life in absolute shambles. She had finally had a baby, but he only lived to be 5 days old. Her husband was leaving her, she was broke, and she was homeless. She was calling the friend she had abandoned in her darkest hour, expecting a soft place to land.

    She did not get one. Instead, she was met with a brutal, ice-cold final word. The narrator told her, “I don’t care about you. I don’t care about your life… I don’t care that your baby died. Just leave me and my daughter alone.” She has been battered with messages calling her “awful” and “heartless,” but she’s standing firm, asking the internet if she was the jerk for her devastatingly honest words.

    Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)

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    Daisy’s initial reaction to her friend’s pregnancy, while cruel, is a common and painful manifestation of infertility grief. Psychologist Dr. Saira Jhutty, PhD explains that seeing a close friend become pregnant can trigger intense feelings of jealousy, anger, and isolation for someone struggling with their own fertility.

    This jealousy might look like a character flaw but it is a symptom of the intense and often all-consuming grief that comes with repeated pregnancy loss. However, her decision to abandon her best friend after her own brother’s fatal accident crosses a line from understandable grief into an intense and selfish betrayal.

    The narrator was in the throes of what the Mayo Clinic describes as “complicated grief,” the sudden, traumatic loss of a spouse, a life event that can cause “intense sorrow, pain and rumination.” Daisy’s refusal to attend the funeral, abandoning her friend in her most vulnerable moment, was nothing but cruel and severed the foundation of their friendship.

    The narrator’s final word seemed brutal, but simply had to be done. As psychologist Dr. Marisa G. Franco explains, one-sided friendships, where one person consistently gives and the other takes, are not sustainable. Daisy’s actions proved the friendship was entirely conditional on her own needs. The narrator’s refusal to help was the last step to severing a bond with someone who had already proven they were not a true friend.

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    The internet declared her brutal honesty wasn’t heartless, but the direct consequence of a friendship already destroyed

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    Louise Pieterse

    Louise Pieterse

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

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    Louise Pieterse

    Louise Pieterse

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    This lazy panda forgot to write something about itself.

    What do you think ?
    LakotaWolf (she/her)
    Community Member
    Premium
    1 month ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Daisy refused to attend her own brother's funeral because she would have to see a pregnant woman. I do sympathize with the struggles of infertility and I cannot imagine how painful it was for Daisy to lose so many pregnancies to miscarriage and a child to stillbirth, but how does she deal with daily life? Does she have a meltdown and throw a fit if she sees a random pregnant woman while grocery shopping? And - as an aside - after 7 years of pain, suffering, and loss, did Daisy and Matt never once consider adoption or fostering? Or even surrogacy? They could afford multiple rounds of IVF, so it doesn't sound like it was a money issue (as I am aware that adoption/surrogacy can sometimes be quite expensive.)

    Tyke
    Community Member
    1 month ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not only that, she gave up any form of contact and relationship with her own brother before he passed. She needs therapy.

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    FreeTheUnicorn
    Community Member
    1 month ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    She could have adopted and had a six year old by now. This isn't about raising a child this is about being the centre of attention. Daisy acts like a toddler herself, thank god she can't get pregnant easily.

    Chrystina Sumpter
    Community Member
    1 month ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I very much wanted a baby. Never happened. I wasn’t even able to conceive. Thing is, I love children. It’s why I wanted to have a child. I have never not loved children. I celebrated the pregnancies of family and friends and even now, in my 60’s I love to crawl around on the floor playing with children (there are such cool kids’ toys out there!). Anyone who stops loving children just because they can’t produce one shouldn’t be a parent.

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    LakotaWolf (she/her)
    Community Member
    Premium
    1 month ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Daisy refused to attend her own brother's funeral because she would have to see a pregnant woman. I do sympathize with the struggles of infertility and I cannot imagine how painful it was for Daisy to lose so many pregnancies to miscarriage and a child to stillbirth, but how does she deal with daily life? Does she have a meltdown and throw a fit if she sees a random pregnant woman while grocery shopping? And - as an aside - after 7 years of pain, suffering, and loss, did Daisy and Matt never once consider adoption or fostering? Or even surrogacy? They could afford multiple rounds of IVF, so it doesn't sound like it was a money issue (as I am aware that adoption/surrogacy can sometimes be quite expensive.)

    Tyke
    Community Member
    1 month ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not only that, she gave up any form of contact and relationship with her own brother before he passed. She needs therapy.

    Load More Replies...
    FreeTheUnicorn
    Community Member
    1 month ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    She could have adopted and had a six year old by now. This isn't about raising a child this is about being the centre of attention. Daisy acts like a toddler herself, thank god she can't get pregnant easily.

    Chrystina Sumpter
    Community Member
    1 month ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I very much wanted a baby. Never happened. I wasn’t even able to conceive. Thing is, I love children. It’s why I wanted to have a child. I have never not loved children. I celebrated the pregnancies of family and friends and even now, in my 60’s I love to crawl around on the floor playing with children (there are such cool kids’ toys out there!). Anyone who stops loving children just because they can’t produce one shouldn’t be a parent.

    Load More Comments
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