There are friends and there are friends.

Friendships formed from a common past seem to have the “just show up” clause of a healthy marriage. There is a bond, an understanding that the relationship is and will be.

Maybe it’s Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s thought that "it’s the time you’ve wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."

Or maybe it’s the appreciation of nostalgia.

Or the solidarity in identity.

Whatever it is, though, makes significance that much more significant.

A common context of your challenges and victories, joys and sorrows, and experience in general, can create harmony largely unmatched. A new companion can seem the oldest of friends if the right stories are told, and can be closer than a confidant in your heart.