Hi Galen, I have personally experienced what you say about your friends, it was with the first woman I lived with and it was something irreparable as a couple. Of course there is a big difference, it was not a life project with many years shared and I think that helped us not to be so dramatic. So I think that in reality the situation may seem similar but it is very different.
And life lessons, the biggest life lesson was given to me by the death of my father. Not only his death, but also the process of the disease. It taught me, in case I didn't know it, that we are finite, and that you have to know how to value the important things in life (each one his own) and distinguish what is a priority from what is not.
Best Regards
It's a tough thing, or so I imagine from the outside looking in. It's a good teacher though only...some don't learn I guess.
We pick up our lessons from all over the place and it's the really smart ones that carry them forward.
I guess it's all about learning from the lessons life gives us, best regards