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Emotional Investment

I recently had a friend jolt me with his reaction to some words I had said to him in a conversation a few days prior. We were speaking on the phone, as we oftentimes do, and I made a passing remark (that neither of us now remembers) reminding him of a comment I had made 2 days before. A phrase, which had caused him to recoil rather strongly and was now once again upon him. His words to me on the phone went like this "that's the second comment you've made in a matter of a few days that has hit me like a neon sign in a dark room." I felt rather like the power had gone out in the middle of my escalator ride. It seemed like I had come to a sudden halt and my mind was a fog of confusion. My first thought was what could I have said that would cause such a severe reaction? My very next thought was Why is he just now telling me this? I took a few seconds to somewhat compose myself and asked him when I had made this comment and what exactly it was that I said to evoke such a strong response. He proceeded to tell me that during that visit together, deep in conversation (as we frequently are) and a badly needed back rub (his) I said this thingthat caused this sobering experience. He can not recall exactly what I was talking about as the very words sent his mind somewhat reeling and caused him to loose focus regarding our conversation. I, have no recollection of the comment or what we might have been discussing at the time. Later, as he recalls this event to me, he admits that I may have said it somewhat tongue-n-cheek or teasingly which is a possibility given my humorous proclivities. I ask him why he had not mentioned it before since it apparently had such a powerful effect on him. He declares that he needed to process the comment and that the occasion had not arisen to discuss it until this moment. Then I ask the question, partly apprehensive and unbelievably curiousWhat did I say? He said "you said something about being emotionally invested" Ok, I said, and.to which he said "that's it." After taking a few moments to toss that around in my head and finally coming to the realization that, that was it, emotionally invested I spoke the words again That was it? Emotionally invested is what slammed into you so hard that you couldn't focus and caused you to see a neon sign in a dark room? Why? Why would those words affect you so strongly? He wasn't exactly sure, or didn't want to say, or maybe just wanted to have this conversation later or whatever.

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