Dear N:

I understand. And I heard about this problem decades ago, friends of single boys/ men and friends of single girls/women losing their friends to the girlfriends/ boyfriends. It is very common. As a matter of fact, daughters lose their remarried fathers to the new wives, that is also common. I think that the reason for this is that the emotional attachment people form to their intimate-others is second in strength only to the attachment of a child to the parent. Often it feels as strong.

On the other hand, the attachment to friends is of lesser strength, in many or most cases.

anita