How do I relate to this group of friends

[superheroslug]

I am lucky enough to have a couple of groups of friends from various stages of life. One group, probably my oldest group of friends, happens to be made up of friends who all have quite difficult things going on in their lives. These have been present in their lives for a number of years (include things like disabled child, MH issues and infertility) and I think I have been a good friend to each individually. My life has its own frustrations and challenges, but nothing as hard as the things they have had to deal with. Of course I am aware that anything could happen to anyone and knowing how difficult things have been for them, makes me realise how lucky I am. However I really struggle with group events. The challenges going on in their lives are usually a big focus of our chat and I just say nothing as I very luckily for me can't relate to their experiences and don't want to come across as an arse. Does anyone have any experience of this? We have a weekend away booked and I am struggling with how best to interact

[RedastheRose]

It is very easy to get bogged down with talking about problems and issues and if you don't get to catch up often then perfectly understandable that everyone wants to talk about tethering own and find out about wats going on in the others lives. You may not have anything to complain about but that doesn't mean you can't instigate a conversation about something else, if you all met at school/college/uni why not reminisce about those times. That would hopefully take everyone's mind off their current woes.