Dear Wendyl,I’ve made a new friend through work and I’m really enjoying our friendship because we have the same interests and sense of humour and she has made coming to work a lot more fun. My problem is that I don’t like her husband. Not one little bit. He’s really manipulative and bosses her around when we are all out together, yet at work she is such a strong, independent person. I feel like she’s two women in the same body. How can I tell her that, while I love spending time with her, I can’t stand seeing how he treats her? Please help – it’s starting to affect our friendship because I avoid being anywhere he is going to be.Sally, email
===
Dear Sally, How completely disappointing for your friendship, but men will do that to you. You can take one of two paths. You can settle in for a tumultuous few years where you attempt to get your friend to see her husband’s faults, point out to her how he treats her, lend support and one day, way down the track, she might leave him and get her life back. But I doubt it. Mr you can simply enjoy spending time with her at work and put your judgement stick away when you’re socialising with them as a couple.
Personally, I’d go for the second option because she has made a choice to live this way and, while you may not approve of him bossing her around, it is her marriage, not yours. Enjoy the friendship, live and let live, and be there for her if she decides she has had enough – or if the bossing turns into something more serious.Wendyl
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
