Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Outgrown and moving on

I belong to a message board, and have for a few years now. The problem is this community which I once LOVED and cherished is now an uncomfortable place. The cliques that develop are natural, but they've become more the norm, and I think I'm not alone in feeling a bit excluded. For example, one person could post every fart and snot bubble her toddler makes, and the member coo and gurgle with excitement. I post something cute that happened in my home, and get only a couple of responses. The women (it's almost exclusively women) that I like there, I REALLY care about. The ones that I don't? I truly despise them. With a community as large as this particular one, there are bound to be people you dislike, and I could deal with that, however I've reached a point where I feel ignored and criticized rather than supported and welcomed. I've put way too much energy into being supportive and caring even when I didn't particularly care for the person, simply because I don't like to hurt people's feelings, but now that I'm not getting the same respect I have decided to throw in the towel. I can pinpoint the turning point, I'm NOT sorry if some of those women didn't approve of my decisions during my first marriage. I'd be lying if I said it doesn't hurt. Bad. Like "breaking up with your best friend" (this is where I MET my best friend, so at least one good thing has come from it) kind of bad. I decided to go quietly, without any dramatic goodbyes, so I'm posting this here for a couple reasons. If you are a member (you know who you are) please feel free to email me, I'd love to hear from a few of you. Other than that, I needed to vent my hurt and frustration with the loss of a support system that has been there for so long. Hopefully, this will give me that closure and relief I'm wanting.