Years ago, I got a call from a friend. “The most amazing thing happened,” she gushed, “we got engaged!” She proceeded to tell me about how her boyfriend proposed. They’re such a loving and compatible couple, I couldn’t have been happier for them. Days later, I saw the picture online, her finger encrusted with an antique diamond ring, an heirloom from her fiancé’s grandmother, just like she had told me about over the phone.
Over the years, I would get a message, sometimes out of the blue, from a friend saying something along the lines of, “Let’s catch up.” Then we’d set up a time to meet, or, if we lived too far apart, have a phone call. At…
