> there are three expectations of a close friend that I hear people describing and valuing across the entire life course, Somebody to talk to, someone to depend on, and someone to enjoy.

I have two close friends. All three of us are in similar life circumstances. Married, kids in elementary/middle/high school, programmers, in our 40s or early 50s, etc.

But, our entire friendship revolves around boardgames. We get together every Thursday night to play games for 3-4 hours.

Someone to talk to? Well, we don’t talk outside of boardgame night and we don’t really talk at boardgame night, other than about the game.

Someone to depend on? Well, pretty much all we depend on is that we will all show up.

Someone to enjoy? Well, frankly, we probably all enjoy boardgames more.