Some years back I had just moved to a new city and my sister in law told me of a friend of hers who had moved there, or more specifically, her friend had moved about 50 miles outside the city. Her friend turned out to be cute and I was interested and dated her, driving that 50 miles to see her, or more accurately 100 miles round trip. Things seemed to be going well, but then she started going out and meeting other dudes and she friendzoned me. I was really young and didn't know any better than to be her orbiter. It seemed to make sense. I could tell her new boyfriend was a scumbag douche and logic seemed to dictate that eventually she would come to her senses. Was I ever clueless back then. If I had known then what I know now, I would have just ejected – don't bother to take her calls, make myself scarce.

Fast forward to the present. Facebook now exists, unlike back then. So my sister in law sends in one of those “recommend as friends” or whatever they call it for that same woman that I used to orbit. The friendship request came in. The old me would have accepted the friendship request, but I realized I have the right to say no, so I rejected it. It may seem like a small thing, but it's important to me. I've realized I'm not obligated to be friends with anyone. She totally let me drive 100 miles over and over and let me spend my money on her. She also friendzoned me right when things were at their toughest, when I had just lost my job (for work political reasons) and had to search for a new one.

If I don't want to see her stinkin' face on Facebook, I don't have to, even if my sister in law thinks I should. I should have said no to her years ago, but it did feel good to finally do it now.