Today, the moment I've been waiting years upon years to happen, happened:

I was asked by some people to hang out with them.

At first I thought Woody and Tyler were joking, I mean, me? Me?? Invited into their circle of friends? I was so flattered I must've turned ten shades of purple. This has never happened before. The earth shook beneath my feet. Of course, I told them no.

I've basically given up on having friends. It's just too goddamn stressful having to worry about how she'll react to them. I had them at one time, you know. There's still Michelle and Daniel, but activity with them has dropped to going and getting Indian food with them once a month or so. Essentially, the friends I can call my own have been whittled down to one who moved down to Cincinnati a few years ago. He calls maybe once a month, sometimes less. The phone rings, she looks at the caller ID. Craig. "Don't answer it." I answer anyway. Foot stomps and cursing. I can't fucking deal with that. It's so much easier to just let the friends go then have them call and hear her cussing at me in the background. Craig, Niraj, I am sorry. I promise I haven't forgotten about you.

I'm not even going to entertain the notion of hanging out with Woody and Tyler.