i don't know. after going through the pain of excising a person from my life, i don't want them to come back into it. it's pretty easy to not think about them, and when i do, it's overall negative and not even close to what a thought of them would have elicited in the past.
but i know that i still care about them. if someone i know brings them up and says something bad about them--even if true--i still step in an reframe what was said in (what i see as) a more accurate way; and if it was true, i know why they are the way they are, and it's more painful to just jump on what's easy and vilify them. there's still a need to protect them in a way, even if i don't think they really deserve it.
it feels wrong not to.
but i would never get back into a relationship with any of them... though to be honest, a relationship, even a new one, seems painful in its own right. almost like closing into myself and pursuing life in other avenues, is a bit more comforting.