All of the useful info above brings me to a question that might deserve its own thread: Do you find that the greatest bond comes from shared secrets, or shared experiences?

For example, in 1993, 4 friends and I went to Myrtle Beach for a week for spring break. We had to head home a day early due to a blizzard that was on the way. We met the storm in Virginia and spent the next 3 days in a motel room in the middle of nowhere. When the cable TV went out, things almost got ugly, but we managed to keep our sense of humor (and our sanity). Later we told "hilarious" stories of how we dealt with the isolation, but no one else ever seemed to understand. We became even closer friends then, in some undefinable way. Marriages, children and moving have separated us in some ways, but not in spirit!

What say you all - shared secrets or shared experiences? Which is more valuable to you?