I have several friends that are going on 40 years. One we lost due to religion. She joined a small country church, they are very devote and very closed. We all miss her but she has changed and we are no longer good enough for her. Only those that belong to the church are worthy of friendship.
Another friend had the same experience with a high school friend who became a member of the Jehovah Witness. She shunned all her friends.
I have found that people tend to gravitate to others who are in the same emotional place. Happy people hang out with happy people, depressed people have depressed friends, druggies hang out together, people who enjoy classical music hang out together.
So if you are in a depressed group and all of a sudden things go well for you or you are in a cubby group and you lose weight WELL that is not appreciated by the others.
Same with the happy bunch. If things go bad for you they expect you to pick your sorry butt up, show some spunk and make it good again as they have during the bad times.
Our group has always been kind of a nutty fun group. We talk about everything, we all have opinions, we share and argue but always respect.
We call each other butt heads if we disagree but say it with a love and a hug. As in " you are my favorite butt head" We are not your average white bread soccar mom women. We can be wild, crude, snobbish and down right silly but we always love each other and support each other.
And yes we are a happy group. If you are depressed someone will come and kick you a%%. It is as simple as that. One day you will open your door and a bucket of purple kool-aid will be thrown at you. That is how we roll. Try keeping a straight face through that.