I'm glad you think so, Fuzzybear. I am challenged by the whole idea of friendship.

I do not have many friendships, and the few that I treasured for 20-30 years are in transformation. One person I decided was not honoring my boundaries; one person cut me off with no explanation or chance to make amends; a third and I now have a "pause" in the relationship for complicated reasons that I do not fully understand.

I don't seem to be building new relationships. Apparently, I don't know how to build relationships, how to establish my boundaries, or how to live up to other's expectations of what they want in a friend.

I feel inadequate and deeply flawed in the friendship category.

My post was mostly thinking outloud and looking for feedback and other's ideas. Good thread, Fuzzybear. So glad you started it.