My wedding was such a wonderful day but there is a black spot hanging on the memory. A selfish, manipulative “friend” guilted me into inviting her and even paying for her flight even though I didn’t really want her there. (I know it’s partially my own fault, but back then I was really struggling with anxiety, the death of a friend, and so much stress, she easily manipulated me). For 6 months afterward she continued to guilt me for what I did or didn’t do to include her in the wedding and celebration. The woman- yes, a 50 year old woman, not some snotty teenager or young adult- would text me while I was at work to complain that ‘she was sad because she was having ‘another one of those days where she couldn’t stop thinking about how I slighted her at the wedding’. UGH. She found a way to make my and my husband’s special day all about her, and I was so depressed and anxious for those first 6 months of marriage that I could barely think back happily on my own wedding day. I was too terrified to break off the friendship because if I made her mad enough she’d be spiteful enough to do something drastic and harmful. I was so pathetic, I know, but at the same time she took such advantage of my anxiety disorder. She knew exactly what to say and how to say it to keep me under her thumb.

Since then I’ve learned to really limit the time I spend talking to her. I don’t let her manipulate me anymore, and I’m trying to erase her selfish temper tantrums from my memory of my wedding… but it’s difficult. I’ll never be able to think of the wedding without thinking of that b**** and the misery she caused me. I also haven’t been strong enough to completely boot her out of my life. I’m hoping that eventually it’ll happen naturally.

Sometimes I purely hate her.