You move to college, make new friends but lose most school ones.
You get a job, make new friends but lose most college ones.
You commit / get married, start hanging out with more couples, lose most single friends.
You have kids, you start hanging out (if you ever can) with parents with kids, lose most child less friends.
Is friendship a zero sum game?
Depressing, isn’t it? One would assume that with each additional phase of life, we change with it enough to not miss the previous one; clearly that does not happen.
Something I find myself repeatedly experiencing is transitioning into a new phase and desperately wishing to go back to the old one! When I got a job, I wanted to go back to college; when I was committed for years and years, I wanted to go back to being single (of course, some of this may have been because of the long distance); now that I am married, I fantasise about single peoples’ lives; presumably when I have a kid, I’m going to wish I could donate her/him to you guys for awhile (read: permanently). :P