No good deed will go unpunished! (part 1)

I have had a terrible fortnight! A "friend" from my past is haunting me and for two years I have tried to put the ugly mess behind me but I have now decided that it will not go away unless I do something about it!

What is friendship? Someone who was at school with you then went to the same Varisty and studied the same course and hung out together and became friends. We then lost touch, can't remember why, but she got married and I didn't. Couple of years later we realised we both had babies three months apart, she still married and me still not, skande! We then rekindled the friendship around the struggles of patenting. I actually can't remember if we kept in touch all the time or not but she got divorced along the way and of course I am still single. When the kids were about 9 we decided to take them to Disney World. It was a well planned trip and affordable because we were sharing everything.

Forcing two only children to share was a bit of a challenge and I ended up packing my bags and knocking on my long lost cousin's door in Houston. This was a blessing, they welcomed us with open arms and we had such a good time that we went back a couple of years later and she constantly nags me to come visit again.

Well I don't take kindly to being kicked out in a strange country and the friendship ended here, or so I thought! I sometimes wondered how she was doing because I can't imagine life could be easy if you are aggressive and constantly fighting, but she was involved in an affair with her boss and I imagined that she was happy. And my life was full with a son that was growing up fast and all the challenges of being a single parent, building a career in a very competitive environment and I have a family who are very involved with each other. So life went on.

I have another friend, Mr Cupboard, who was also at school with me and we have a very special friendship, we call each other every now and then meet up for a drink or a meal and generally have a good time in each other's company. For any of you thinking of making a match - he is married to a girl who also went to school with us and she also has a good time with us! Anyway he started nagging me to do a class reunion in 2006, which we did and he invited Angry Friend and I decided to be civil towards her.

At the reunion we were civil towards each other and after a lot of wine flowed she came to chat with me and asked about everyone in my family - it ended up being a one way discussion because by now she had fought with everyone in her family and alienated them all - I kid you not! She only had her daughter, then studying at the same Varsity as my son, Charles. I felt sorry for her, and had consumed way too much wine and so I decided that bygones were bygones and to get over myself.

Shame, after-all she had no one and I had a big family and lots of friends, surely I could open my heart and forget about the past - Good deed Number One.

How innocently we set ourselves up for disaster!