My friend J (the one in a condo ) had recently reconnected with her former coworker/friend from 20 years ago. He told her he is in the hospital and is dying, due to deterioration of the heart.
She is very distraught about this. He lives in another state, but they have been talking on the phone every night for 3 hours, so now she says she has fallen in love with him. I'm so worried about her mental health - in a way this seems like a diversion from her own deep troubles.
I've known her for 30 years, and have never seen her so tenuous in her mental health. I mean this guy is going to die unless he gets a heart transplant. So, I see the disaster in the making.
This is my friend whose dad died of dementia 4 years ago, then her mom died of dementia and strokes 1 year ago. Then her brother died (very unexpectedly) 1 month later of a heart attack. She went through deep depression for a year, and I was just seeing some improvement until she started running out of money.
She has one brother left, but he seems to have bipolar disorder - at least we think he does. Because he goes through periods of accusing her and others of crazy stuff, and he won't speak to her for a while. For example, he accused his step dad of colluding with his ex wife to block him from custody of his boys.
The only thing wrong with that theory - his sons are in their late 20s and are in the armed services, stationed elsewhere far away. They just choose not to communicate much with their dad because he was so abusive and unpredictable while they were growing up.
I'm just worried about her - and also me, because I am pretty much her support system, if something happens to her.