Well, it had to happen.

Over on FB, I finally got contacted by someone I was more than happy NOT being in contact with. And, quite frankly, I'm a little torn in how to handle the situation.

In every life, there are people that come & go. Some touch your life & change you forever. Some share memories at a certain point, then fade into a mist. Some bring a smile at the oddest times.

And some evoke the response of every hair on the back of your neck standing up on end & you find yourself in full on "fight or flight" mode.

Yep, this is one of those latter relationships.

I believe the last contact we had was a phone call that ended with, "Look, I don't have time in my life for you, don't bother calling me."

Ouch.

This after I had just seen her through a sticky divorce, financial troubles, & the death of our close High School friend.

Looking back, that was pretty much how it always worked.

We were friends in High School, me being there when she needed it, getting cold-shouldered when she didn't. She stopped returning my calls when she got pregnant, had an abortion, & was sent down State to live with her Grandma & attend a small college. She called the next summer when she returned to the local campus I was attending & needed to have a friendly face show her around. Two years passed, then she "broke up" with me again because I was dating the brother of her crush & she couldn't stand me being a part of his family. Her words, not mine.

I'm not making this up.

Our paths crossed a few years later & the "friendship" resumed. We did lunch, went shopping, & shared the ups & downs of fledgling adulthood. Until she didn't need me. Again. Which is sad, because at that point, I needed a friend.

When we parted, the abandoned son was 4, the beautiful daughter was not in the picture, & the internet was only a glimmer on the horizon. No one had cell phones, or texting, or "social networking". It was a challenge to keep in contact with your friends, & quite easy to lose contact with everyone else.

Not so today.

As anyone who knows me will attest, I am self-proclaimed Queen of the Search Engine. A proper input here, a random click there, you can pretty much find anyone you are looking for. Or a link that will eventually lead you there. (Yes, I know that's a sentence fragment, but I like how it reads & am leaving it.)

So, when I got a message that read: "I came across you by accident and thought, oh my gosh! What are the odds?" I'm thinking to myself, hmmm, probably a pretty good bet considering I use both my maiden and married names & am linked up to my High School page.

Accident my fanny.

Pair that with the "How are the kids?", note the plural, comment from someone that never knew #2 existed...can we say, FB Stalker?

It was the "When we last spoke" line that really got my dander up. More correctly remembered contextually, it was, "When I last told you I didn't want to speak with you again" memory that made me chuckle.

And all I can think is, "So, what do you need?"

It sounds cold. It sounds harsh. But somewhere in the back of my mind there's a little voice saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." You know what? Fool me three times & I think I'm pretty much branded a sucker.

So, do we go for a fourth?

I suppose I should at least be polite & message back. I can do that. I've done it with a couple other people I have had differences with & been delightfully surprised.

But honestly, I do not want this person actively in my life. I don't want them looking through my photos, & reading my statuses, & seeing what my real friends have to say. I do not want to be part of the drama she brings to every situation.

And I feel a little bad about that.

But not bad enough to open myself up again. And I'm pretty sure I'm ok with that.