A beautiful excerpt from a beautiful post. From Sam's blog.

It is important to note that friendship love is grounded in reality. This begins with the absence of idealization. The great weakness of romantic love is that lovers see each other through the unrealistic lens of idealization. This is, of course, why romantic love is unstable. Eventually reality sets in and shatters the unrealistic perceptions of the loved one.

True friends, in contrast, see each other realistically. Because they know each other so well, they know the weaknesses that are hidden from the view of those at a distance. This awareness, however, does not diminish the respect, affection and admiration that they feel. But they are not prone to idolization. Friends are not fascinated by each other. Nor are they awestruck. They know each other not by the outer garb of persona but by the dependable and relatively stable elements of habit, character, disposition and trait. It is this down-to-earth quality of friendships that gives them stability and endurance. They may be unromantic, but they are anchored in reality.

Viva Friendship.