Sorry your year has been so rough, WLG. Especially the loss of your brother- I'm so sorry.
For me, 2007 has been difficult but very educational.
I've completely redefined the standards to which I hold a person who claims to be my friend. It took learning the very hard way, I am very gun-shy now and you can bet it'll be a damn long time before I allow myself to declare to anyone new 'you are my friend'.
It hurts when you trust people and let them in, and in the end, all they do is use that privileged information to hurt you. Sometimes, your oldest friends are not your best friends. Sometimes you can give until you've nothing left to give, and it's still not good enough. That's when you realize that the problem is theirs, and not yours, and you finally have to let them go.
2008 will be better (and the rest of 07 for that matter) because of the lessons I have learned, even though they've hurt like hell.
~Essie