Thanks _zh, time0 and Ninni. I appreciate your listening to me. I feel ok today - I understand why she was avoiding me because truth be told I would have tried to talk her out of it.

_zh, those are the right questions to ask and I thank you for being straight enough with me to ask them. She was a good friend to me for a number of reason - I wasn't taking on a 'charity' case or anything like that -- I truly enjoyed her company and she was helpful to me when I was going through hard times as well. I do know (in the light of day) that she wasn't so much using me as she was scared that I would be disappointed in her, although it's hard to imagine myself as someone who is so rigid that one would actually be nervous about my opinion.

Anyway, I'm not sure how I'm going to proceed. I told her that I was hurt, she apologized and asked for a fresh start, and I am thinking about what I want to do now. I just don't know. I have to think more...

Thanks again