My group of close friends was made up of 2 couples and myself. When one couple split, I grieved too.

• My group of close friends was made up of two couples and myself.
• We jokingly called ourselves "The Comune" because we did so much together.
• When one couple split, I mourned a relationship I wasn't in but still felt like mine

"Costco has a good deal on AirTags; should we split them?"

Texts of this nature were not uncommon to receive in our family group chat, except for the tiny detail that we weren't family — well, not in any traditional sense of the word, at least.

Rather, we were a group of five friends that came together during COVID-19 lockdowns — two couples, myself, and a baby.