She's supposedly one of my closest friends, and I hers. I've seen her ONCE in the last year (tickets to something she wanted to see with other people). She is never free, and when we do have plans she cancels at the last minute. She cancelled an outing for a Wednesday evening on the Monday (my birthday - and she didn't even remember) on the basis that I hadn't got back to her about the restaurant I was booking (it's London so there would be lots of last-minute options available if you aren't fixed on area and don't mind a chain if other things aren't fee) and she'd just been offered work for that evening. She cancelled the re-arranged plans for yesterday in the morning because her husband was supposedly ill.
I feel horribly hurt. If these were one-off incidents, I'd accept it, but she has form for this over a long period of time. She didn't show up to my thirtieth (cancelled on the day) because she was "tired". Another time I was having money worries and asked if we could go for a walk rather than doing something expensive, and she tried to cancel - I pulled her up on and she said that she thought I'd wanted to cancel when I proposed the walk (WTF?) and agreed to go for coffee instead. Another time, when my relationship was in difficulties and I desperately wanted to talk about it, she suggested we go to an event with booked tickets (afternoon) and just before I left the house to go to it sent me a message saying she wouldn't be socialising after as she wanted to go off with her boyfriend (now husband). There are other incidents, but no-one wants to read the full history of a long friendship!
She often talks about what a good and loyal friend I am when we meet up. But I don't feel that she values me.
I don't know what to do about it. I don't want to lose the friendship, but I'm also sick of devoting so much time and mental energy to trying to find a slot in her diary and then being cancelled on. I haven't told her how hurt I am about the last two incidents - I'm not even sure it's reasonable for me to be hurt. But I can't shake the impression that I'm just not someone she considers that she has to make time for. She has one child, local family and works part time. I have one child, work more than full time hours and am having medical treatment (which she knows about) but I've made myself available because my friend matters to me! I haven't pulled her up on the most recent incidents - maybe I should, but I don't want to the person who says that someone should turn down work for me or that I don't believe that her husband is ill. (But I am self-employed, and both times when she's cancelled it's after I've juggled/stuck kid in front of telly/turned work down to make sure that we can meet up.)