Who or what is influencing my thinking on what friendship “should” look like, anyway? Where did I learn that from, and why do I give that authority over my own experiences? Is there some standard for friendship that I internalized from a kids’ show, decades ago, before the internet, before I grew up into a world that a kids’ show never could have predicted, that I somehow still hold myself to? If my friendships don’t adhere to the expectations I’ve learned from TV, from media, from hearing stories about other peoples’ close friendships, then does it mean I don’t have any “real” friends? Or do
...more
