Long-standing friendships can survive plenty of bumps in the road, but one wrong turn can steer things off course for good.

Two friends had made a pact to never miss each other’s birthdays, but soon adult life got in the way.

Still in the throes of postpartum, one woman chose to cancel on her best friend last minute.

But in the ensuing argument, she let one remark slip that was so cutting her best friend may never be able to un-hear it.

Read on for the full story.

AITA for cancelling on my 35f best friend’s 36f birthday party at the last minute?

I (35F) have 2 children (5M and 3F) and a baby who is only 16 weeks old.

My first two pregnancies have gone quite smoothly, with a few bumps along the way but not many problems.

It was a different story for the next pregnancy.

My third pregnancy was really tough as I got diagnosed with preeclampsia, was put on bedrest for 6 weeks, and had an emergency C-section during which both the baby and I almost died.

I stayed in the hospital for longer than 2 weeks before I was deemed healthy enough to be released.

Luckily, her husband picked up the slack and cared for the family while she recovered.

My husband has been beside me in the delivery room all three times and does most of the chores, takes care of the kids while I recover, and makes sure I have everything I need.

We have saved more than enough money from both our jobs to afford staying at home for as long as needed.

Then there’s her most important long-standing friendship.

My best friend (we’ll call her Ashley) has been my BFF since elementary school.

We’ve never missed each other’s birthdays no matter what was going on in our lives or how far apart we were.

She was also aware of my troubles.

Yesterday was her birthday.

Soon, she starts to worry she won’t be able to attend the party.

In the morning, I was feeling below par and was too tired to get out of bed, so my husband took care of all the kids and helped me shower like he had done 100 times before during my pregnancies and postpartum.

She tried to wait as long as she could to make the call.

When it was around 2 pm, I was feeling a little better, but I was still worn-out, so I called Ashley.

Her birthday party was scheduled for 3 pm, and I was supposed to arrive at 2:30 pm.

I waited until 2 pm because I knew how important her birthday is and was hoping I would feel good enough to come over.

But eventually, she had to let Ashley know she wasn’t going to make it.

I told her, “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to come to your birthday party because I’m not feeling well.”

She asked what was wrong, and I told her that I was extremely exhausted and there was no way I could be at her party.

Ashley didn’t react well.

I literally heard her sigh angrily, and she said, “But what about our promise? I broke my arm while racing and still traveled 1,000 miles for your birthday, but you can’t drive 20 miles to see me? If your fat *** can reach the grocery store, then you would come here if you actually cared.”

So she lashes out too.

That’s when I became mad and told her, “Well, if you had kids, then you would understand.”

That’s when she said, “**** you,” and hung up.

You might think, “What’s so bad about saying if you had kids?”

It turns out, this was a particularly cruel thing to bring up.

Ashley can’t get pregnant due to an incident that happened during our younger college days, and the topic is very sensitive for her, so me saying that was extremely vile.

This morning, I woke up feeling much better and attempted to contact Ashley so I could apologize, but she wouldn’t pick up and ignored all my text messages.

Her husband is on her side, but still she wonders if she’s in the wrong for all this.

My husband said that I shouldn’t apologize because if she was a real friend, she would have shown concern and worry instead of anger and the attitude of a brat, so she deserved my comeback.

But I feel so guilty for bringing up her inability to have kids, and I feel like such an AH for doing so.

AITA?

In her mind, she was standing her ground, but did she go too far?

Reddit is sure to have some strong opinions.

Her friend may have gone low, but she didn’t have to go even lower.

There’s really no excuse for saying something this vile — especially considering her friend’s circumstances.

Unexpected things happen all the time, but she still waited until the last minute to let her friend know.

She really messed up this time. Big.

Friendship, like trust, takes years to build and seconds to break – and this friendship may be done for good.

She thought her words were a quick defense, but they were more like a permanent scar.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.