Sidestepper - Thanks for understanding so well. I tend not to take the initiative with people whom I admire. I get picked as a friend by people who find I meet some need of theirs. Now I am so depleted, I can't do it anymore. I have been letting go of those who use me - often in ways you describe very well. It is creating more aloneness for me, but it is also kind of feeling better. I find that I don't miss hearing from these people. I really appreciate to be understood on this.

Making decisions to put distance between some others and myself goes very much against what I thought I believed in, but I have to re-think how I believe in living my life. I'm finding that very hard.

I hope your car gets fixed up okay. Oh, and, yes, I almost moved in with a parent some years ago and I think that would have been disastrous. The old dynamics tend to resume.