Friendship, like the immortality of the soul, is too good to be believed.

Real friendship can feel almost implausible: someone who knows your faults, has no obligation to you, and stays anyway. Its generosity exceeds what we feel we have earned, so part of us keeps waiting for it to be withdrawn. That doubt sits alongside the gratitude, as it does with any gift that seems too large.

If you have a friend like that, try trusting it a little more than feels natural. You need not keep checking whether you deserve it. Let the evidence of years count for more than the nagging suspicion, and tell them, plainly, what their staying has meant.