I recently re-connected with a woman friend who my NPD forced me to sever ties with.I met her when we were taking some college courses at the same place, but really had no particular contact other than “Hi” at the beginning of class. After my first divorce, I asked her out, and she shot me down in flames in very short order. But, we did become study partners and very good friends. I even ended up renting an apartment in my duplex to her.When I met my future wife (the NPD), right from the very start, she was insanely jealous of my friend – for no reason other than she was an attractive woman and she was my friend. We had no romantic relationship, and I was completely up front in how we met and knew each other. I also made it clear that I knew her a lot longer than I knew my (future wife), and if she didn’t like it, then she could move along. She tolerated the relationship because my friend also regularly dog-sat for me when I went to visit fw in another city (because she didn’t like the dog hair in her house – and eventually made me get rid of the dog, too) (then there was the New Years Party the first year I met fw, where she got falling down drunk because I invited my friend – I know, I know, I missed all kinds of red flags here, but the sex was amazing! )After I got married, she managed to brow-beat me into giving up my friend. That was probably right around the time our relationship started the death spiral. It wasn’t the cause of the problems, but just another red flag I missed.Anyway, my friend and I managed to hook up on the weekend and spent the day at a jazz festival. I haven’t seen her in almost 5 years, but it was like we’d never missed a day. She’s still single and has been for about 12 years. She’s had 3 abusive marriages, but is healthy enough now to say “enough”. She’s happy with her life, and if someone comes along who she can have a relationship with, but still have her own life, then she’ll take it. If not, she’s content to be by herself.Worst thing is, she had absolutely warned me off fw, and I didn’t listen. But at least she was gracious enough not to say “I told you so” (at least, not in so many words).So, like the topic says, it’s nice to have “real” friends.