when you become friends with a service provider who then takes it too far

Yes. You got it.💕

So the friend whom I asked to join me for the ballet would have been interested but she has already committed to a play in San Francisco on that day. So I need to keep looking. And here I have a question.

In 2011, I worked together with a woman. She was an office manager at my work. We were then both laid off as part of a massive layoff. Several years later, for a few years, we were casual acquaintances. We went for walks together and she invited me to her house where I met her daughter and eventually the daughter's new husband. At some point she and her daughter and I went out. It was probably slightly less than 10 years ago. She is several years older than me and probably in her late 50s now. She shared a lot about her life with me.

Then she disappeared and stopped responding to birthday wishes over email. I was still subscribed to her updates on Facebook and occasionally liked them but eventually unsubscribed because she shared sciency stuff and that is not my area of interest. I never unfriended her, mind you, I just unfollowed her.

Suddenly, several days ago, I saw that she liked my post with a picture of my adult son. I then messaged her, saying hello. I see that she saw the message but she has not responded. I also finally see the history of messaging between her and me. I did not pay attention before but now I see that in 2018 we exchanged messages, planned to get together, she was very eager, but ultimately she disappeared, which happens to people when they get busy and it is completely OK with me. And she was not checking messenger at that time. But now I see by her little profile thumbnail that she saw me "hello" message. Still, since she has not written back, I decided not to say anything more.

Today, though, I see that she has just now liked another post of mine with a photo of my son and his GF. So she is actively liking my posts but is not responding on messenger. Weird, no?

I have her phone number. I wonder if I should phone her and offer to go to the ballet together. It would be a nice opportunity to reconnect after not seeing one another for more than 5 years. But at the same time I do not want to put her on the spot and create an uncomfortable situation if for some odd reason that I am completely unaware of she does not want to communicate with me.

Note that it is not that she has been liking my posts all along. In fact, I think this is the first time in years that she did. It was sudden.

For context, she is an extremely nice and warm woman. As an office manager, she was simply extraordinaire. She always went above and beyond.

ETA Maybe I should text her, not call her. This way she would have an opportunity to ignore my text if she feels so inclined.

I want to explain how I know she likes my posts. These posts were made some time ago and that is when most people reacted to them. Now, only a few people do, usually one or two a day, which is why I see updates and see that she is liking them.

If she has notifications off on Facebook, she may just be someone who never looks at her messages there.

Well, I have texted the woman with whom we worked together in 2011 and have not heard back. I will give it a few days before I decide that this is just a very weird case.

Another weird case. There was this couple and they had been completely crazy about me and wanted to spend time together (more so than I had been willing to reciprocate). Then, I last heard from one of them in January in response to a piece of news I shared, and it was on a positive note. Then, I invited them over for dinner in June. No response. Now, wrote again several days ago. Silence.

People can be strange.

That is probably what happened.

She responded to my text. Not right away, but she did. She was happy I wrote to her.

She is doing well but very busy: her daughter gave birth to a girl and is now living with my friend, the daughter, her husband and the granddaughter. So my friend, between work and family, there is no free time, but these are all pleasant chores.

I did invite her to the ballet trying to take her out of her chores for the night. If she does not respond by text, I will call her on the weekend.

If she does not want to go, I will post on my local women's group as I need to find a companion.

I was not able to find a companion for the ballet but had the good idea to gift the tickets to my friend's son and his fiancee, to go to 2 weeks before the wedding. The show was this evening. I hope they will eventually tell me about it.

The friend with whom I used to work and I will go the local park by the Bay in November. I am glad all of this caused me to reconnect with her.

The old trainer has paid me. It took my asking her to pay and then reminding her once after more than a week elapsed since her promise to pay the next week, but the result is that she has paid me back today.