I can’t imagine my life without them. They’ve been there through life’s ebbs and flows, sharing tears and laughter and memories that will last a lifetime. We can do everything and nothing together. Every time I think of them I can’t help but smile – or cry, even – wondering how I got so lucky. With them, I can just be.

Recently, though, I’ve learned my kind of hyper-codependent friendships are increasingly rare and special. A recent column in The New York Times posits that distance can make the platonic heart grow fonder. Even amid our national loneliness crisis, research shows that a relationship's quality isn’t determined by the frequency of interactions. Intentionality is key.

Even so, my social media feeds have been brimming with those bemoaning the state of my modern friendship. Some iteration of “everyone wants a village; no one wants to be a villager” gets passed around often.

It isn’t all our fault, though. As the world around us crumbles, so can our most intimate relationships. Friendships........

© USA TODAY