<human>: My parents are not bad people. They're flawed people who lack the ability to be empathetic and understand the consequence of their actions, and to see other people as something more than auxiliary characters to their own lives. This is due to their stubborn personalities, and rigid traditional beliefs, and their own troubled life histories. I don't hold any bitterness towards them, and I appreciate them for the way they've helped me come this far.

However, just now I'm starting to realize that my picture of what my life should be like makes so much more sense when I think about moving forward with my best friend in mind as the "core" of my life, and not my parents. We've known each other since we were kids, and he's the one who's always been there for me. Back in high school, he's the one who tried to understand and support me when I was struggling with my sexuality and was afraid of getting kicked out, and he's the one who cared to make sure that I was really ok. Now in college, he's the first one I went to when I was struggling with career decisions, because I know that he'd want me to figure things out not because I would be a failure otherwise, but because he simply cares about me being *happy* from having figured things out. There was no time limit. It was just a matter of whether I was happy.

There's this guilt-driven belief I've always had that "they're my parents, so they must be the most important people in my life by default". But now I really feel so infinitely more secure and hopeful realizing that this kindness my friend has always treated me with is truly the only thing I have to consider to be normal. That there's literally no reason to expect something different from my future, and I don't truly have to believe that what I live has "come down" at some point and fit itself into my biological family's way of living. I don't know why it never occurred to me that things could be different, but I guess it was deep rooted enough that saying "my best friend is my family" is what finally made it click.

I'm just happy. This is only a change of perspective, but I'm really just so happy.

Could you distill the essence of the text into 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: I had an epiphany that the people who truly make sense as a core part of my life are those that are there because we care about each other. That's basically that novel up there ^