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Old friends
Sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst conducted a now-famous study on friendship. In particular, he investigated how the context in which we meet people shapes our social network. One of his conclusions: We naturally lose about half of our friends every seven years. Given our ever-changing circumstances — moving, changing jobs, getting married, raising kids — it’s logistically impossible to maintain every friendship we’ve ever had. My friend Debbie and I touched on this topic recently. Deb and I met when we were both pregnant nearly 39 years ago, and our long friendship is wrapped in layers of shared memories and experiences. We’re also lucky enough to have kept a few older friendships…


