u/Budgiejen

I have an acquaintance. Until recently she thought we were like super close, even though I’ve never been super excited about being friends with her. I’ve always been nice. Invite her to things. Offer rides. Just don’t feel like a close connection.

Anyway, I noticed maybe a week ago or a little more that she had defriended me on fb. And also I hadn’t heard from her in a few days. So I was like, “oh, her boyfriend of the week must have told her to defriend me.” And figured that it wasn’t a big loss.

But this morning she texted me at like 7 am asking if we were friends and accusing me of defriending *her* on fb. Only I didn’t get the text til I was out the door at 11 to door dash. I went straight from there to a funeral, thinking about how to approach the situation.

Then during the service she texted me a bunch more. And tonight even more. The “what did I do?” Kind of texts.

And she did some things that annoyed me, but nothing to drop her over. But when she dropped me, I was fine with it.

So now I’m like, do I just keep not responding? Ghost her, so to speak? Do I point out that she defriended me? That sounds like it would start the kind of back and forth that would give me a headache. Or do I tell her the reasons I haven’t missed her for the last couple weeks? Including, but not limited to, her abysmal taste in men and putting them before friendship and canceling plans w me last minute.

I’m a musician. I’m proficient on 14 instruments. I like to play violin and viola when I visit my granddaughters. When I have band concerts, they like my clarinet or saxophone.

My older granddaughter is five. Starting kindergarten in the fall. I think she’s ready for some sort of music lessons. I figure since she’s so intrigued with my clarinet, she might like recorder (which I also play). I’d love to start her on some easy low-key lessons. But her mom is pretty against, well, anything. Doesn’t want her doing music, scouts, sports, even swimming lessons. But my granddaughter loves hearing me play my instruments, and pressing keys on clarinet and saxophone, bowing the violin.

My son is less resistant to music ideas, he just doesn’t want to “force” her. So how do I convince them that music lessons are appropriate and fun?

So I had a nicer, bigger viola, but it was causing a lot of back pain. (A lot of things cause me back pain). So I bought a student viola worth about $800, 15”. It’s literally a no-name instrument. No maker inside it. It sounds like a student instrument. It pretty much gets the job done, and trust me when I say I can’t afford something nicer.

But would it be worth it to go to my local luthier and see about a good setup? I don’t even know what kind of strings are on it. The only ones I can tell by looking is Dominant. It’s not those.

Sorry my thoughts aren’t super well organized. It’s just something I’ve been playing around with. Q

Brought home a French horn today. Any good recs for lessons?