My friends are moving to Australia, which, as Suzy put it, in geographical terms is the same as moving to space. “What’s hardest,” Suzy said, staring into one of the fishbowl gin and tonics we were drinking, “is that your friendships won’t grow from here. There are the obvious reasons – children, work, fatigue – but there’s also something subtler: a collective retreat from effort. I sometimes wonder if part of what we call friendship fatigue is really exhaustion with the work real closeness takes. Real friendship, like any long relationship, needs a tolerance for discomfort.
