What Happened to Our Friendship When We Became Strangers
When money spoke the loudest, success changed our friendship.
Sometimes, the hardest aspect of friendship is not growing up but growing apart.
It’s when you realize that the person who has been with you for years is no longer who they used to be. The tough moments you lived together, the memories you once created, now feel so distant, like they belong to someone else. It is as if a part of who you are becomes so unfamiliar to you that you no longer recognize it, leaving you mentally and emotionally aching.
I just finished having dinner with a friend I have known for 25 years, and it was the most painful dinner I have ever had. It seems that I’ve been holding onto a relationship that I should have let go of 10 years ago, but I’ve resisted because I see myself as a loyal friend.
My friend lost the ability to talk about anything but his business, bank account, and the toys he buys for himself and his family, and our time together is awkward. It’s clear that we are no longer friends, and our relationship feels forced. He said only 10 words in the first two hours of our last dinner. When the silence became unbearable, I shifted the conversation to his business.
