You said you don't want sympathy, so I won't comment on your post, I guess. I've lost family, but never friends or really close family. I can imagine how it'd be harder if it was a close friend. I've lost friends to other things though, like some that moved away (different countries even) and never came back. It was kind of hard, but not really that hard, because I never really let myself become too attached to people.

I also had something I kept for a long time, which one day I threw in the garbage because I was sick of the memory associated with it. I don't really want to get into details. But I can sympathize with that. I'm not sure what to think about things like that. Letting go is good in some ways, but some things shouldn't be let go of completely, maybe. Sometimes it's important that you keep certain things with you. "Things" as in lessons or memories, I guess.