This article annoyed me with its focus on the pair of women who message each other like Tumblr pals and apparently find themselves the most interesting people on the planet.

But it grew on me, if only through the gravity of schadenfreude, and I read the whole thing.

What stood out to me the most was this:

> as American life reconfigures itself, we may find ourselves rethinking whether our spouses and children are the only ones who deserve our binding commitments

This brought to mind a pair of entertainers[] who:

* Have been close friends since 1st grade

* Are now in their 40s

* Have been creative partners for about 2 decades

* Have been business partners for over a decade

* When they were teenagers, performed an actual blood oath (cut themselves and mingled their blood) promising that they would create something great together

* Now have dozens of employees and a loyal following of millions

* Alternately describe their friendship as a brotherhood and as a "second marriage".

I am deeply inspired by and jealous of their relationship, and think that this "friendship as commitment" model is dreadfully important.

We might benefit from formalization of this type of relationship through institutions (think fraternal organizations--but instead, "philial organizations").

[] Rhett & Link https://open.spotify.com/episode/2DNxju3SrXATFdhd1SzH1A