oddly enough....i have a good amount of people close to me....that i can rely on and they can rely on me.
the turds seem to flush away over time...now that im older i have a close group. i have a great number of acquaintances, but probably 10 or so people in my life that i know i can rely on 100%. they in turn know that i will be there for them as well. we kinda have an extended family. we are all close within the network so it works well for everyone.
sad to see on this thread that so many people have been burned before