burning bridges in rants

I am getting older and it’s harder to make and/or keep friends. That said, I am considering letting go of some long time friends.

One is in CA and although I usually enjoyed spending time with her, she said something that startled and upset me so much the last time I was there, I wonder if we can remain friends.

Another is here in NYC. He’s a LONG time friend - at least 10 years, probably more.
For most of the friendship, I’ve been the one to figure out which movie we’ll see - e-mailing him the schedule of various cinemas. I buy the discount tickets and he picks me up and delivers me back home. We get together 2-3 times a month on VERY specific days.

Lately, he’s been forgetting (?) to tell me till the last minute if he’s actually available - granted, sometimes there are health emergencies with his mother or a car emergency. But there are holidays… oops!… or he’s otherwise busy… and I WAIT and WAIT to see if we’re going anywhere. I don’t want to make other plans for those days… nor do I want to go to a movie by myself that I think we’ll want to see together.

The resentment builds up. Last week I spoke with him about this leaving me dangling. He said he understood… then in e-mails he acted as if this was a “rule” (and we know rules were made to be broken) as opposed to courtesy and respect. AHA! Again, this week, I waited on Monday. He’d been ill and hadn’t gone to work. And he didn’t call to let me know WHY???

I think that’s it. We often get together on Thursday, and I am planning to be out of the house during the day and into the evening. I honestly don’t think he’ll even notice.