Ladybug, I'm sorry to hear how your friends seem to have abandoned you since your husband's stroke. That unfortunately has been my experience far too often in my depression-prone life. That kind of silence IS very baffling and hurtful.

Thankfully, I do have a handful of friends who have stood by me through everything. They make it easier to withstand the very real pain of abandonment and incomprehensible intolerance from others who refuse to see the inner giftedness of the person who lives and breathes behind the sometimes faulty-looking outward packaging.