Childhood friends.

How many of you still hang out with or even just talk to some of your childhood friends?

I moved away from my hometown over 20 yrs ago and I lost contact with everyone that I grew up with until Facebook became popular. I still only occasionally talk to them now on FB(rarely, is a better word).

It seems like we all talked about old times, got caught up on each others' lives then slowly drifted apart again.

My wife still hangs out with several of her best friends that she grew up with. We live in her hometown so she is constantly seeing someone she grew up with. The same goes for my siblings who still live in our hometown.

I feel especially regretful about not making the effort to stay in touch with old friends when someone that I always thought that I would see again and talk with about old times passes away. I'm normally not emotional, but that does make me feel regret.

 

I think when we are busy with young families we associate more with immediate family and people from church and work, but as we age and children move on to start their own lives, we begin to remember old friends. Or maybe that's just me, since my kids are still single, though now in their 30s. I had started a Facebook page years ago due to constant requests but never looked at it or paid any attention. But one day my daughter messaged me from Facebook while I was living in northern Thailalnd and suddenly I was paying attention. To my surprise..there were all my old friends from my childhood in Haiti, from high school in Port-au-Prince, old college buddies, even friends from other states where I'd lived. I hadn't even realized I was "friends" with them because if I received a friend request I'd just click "yes" without even know really knowing what it meant. I began to realize that old friends had been there all the time, posting photos of kids and grandkids while I pursued my obsessions.

I also realized, with a feeling of shock, that my Haiti MK (missionary kid) sidekick when I was 6-8 yrs old even lives in northern Thailand and had been here for 20 years. As more people messaged me from Facebook that I barely knew before, I began to get to know old friends for the first time.

I also began to realize how different I am now than I was then.

 

I'm 25, still pretty young, but still speak for a few friends from middle school and earlier.

 

I bounced from town to town far too much to have any lasting friends man

 

I'm 27 and have very little interest in keeping in touch with childhood friends. There are only a couple people from high school that I'd even consider hanging out with.

 

I still have my best friend that I've had since 1st grade. We've been friends for about 28 years and I still talk to her every single day. It's not even 9 am and I've already texted her 2 times today. She is basically my sister at this point. I still remember the exact moment we met. We have been through hell and back with each other.

My 3 best friends include her and 2 others that I've been close to since I was 14. I talk to them daily also.

There are plenty of other people that I'm still friends with from my childhood that I see and speak to also but maybe not in a daily basis.

 

I'm still friends with a lot of people I grew up with. I tend to make a lasting connection when I bond with someone.

 

I hang out with a handful of people from high school still. Less often now, since I live 4 hours away.

 

Most of my friends are friends I've had since high school. I don't really hang out with any friends I had from elementary or junior high, though I do keep in touch with a lot of them through Facebook. Luckily there's still a small group of us who either never really moved away or moved back after a couple of years.

 

I'm a really loyal person and I also don't make friends that easily so when I do make a friend I form a solid, long lasting bond. My oldest friend and I met when i was in 5th grade. We aren't as close as we once were - we don't talk every day, we don't tell each other everything anymore, but we're always there for each other during tough times.

I've noticed that friends I've made as an adult are more like fair weather friends, where we hang out and have a ton of fun together when times are good but when times are bad they're noticeably quiet. So I really appreciate my oldest friend. We know each others' families really well too so we can always call each other when we just need to vent about a family problem or anything bad going on in our lives.

I have two other friends that I met in 8th grade that I still consider two of my best friends as well. I consider the three of them to be more like family.

 

Even though we don't meet often, because both of us leave the country regularly one of my best friends I've known for all my life. Even moreso, our parents were friends with eachother before we were even born.

 

Hell no.

 

A few back in my hometown that I've known for- ahhhhh--60 years! The friend I've known the longest is is bad-bad shape. I still see 5 or 6 of them when I go down to Cal.

OOopppssss--70 gol' dang years.

 

I bounced around so much growing up that I wasn't able to form too many lasting bonds. I only got to know people for a a year or two before moving away. Now, I don't get too attached to people, places, things anymore. I enjoy them very much while they are in my life, but if someone moves away or if I move, I don't really miss them too much. I detach very easily. I still enjoy the memory of them, though, and keep in touch if they want to. But if they don't actively try and contact me...

Kind of makes me look like a distant person. Oh well . The people I consider my "real" friends...it doesn't matter if we haven't seen each other in years, we pick up as if we never left.

 

I talk via e-mails to a few, but hang with none of them. Not much in common actually.

 

as a child i did not have many. even well into young adult hood, or for that matter the entire course of my life. i don't make many enimies either. i simply find most of my enjoyment alone.

but friends in my life there have been, of course. and still are. i only know of one person to whom i was as close as to anyone in my young life, where he is, or at least was, less then ten years ago. and that was driving a bus for a county transit system.

my only other friend of that era, killed himself in a car, while i was in the air force, in the late 60s. it is suspected deliberately, driving off a cliff on a sharp turn speeding, that he was VERY familiar with its being there.

earlier friends i have no idea. the one who introduced to the people in southern oregon where i lived on the land when first moving up there, the last i heard of, had returned to somewhere near his home when i had first met him. this was sometime in the 90s i think it was when i last heard from him. in 87 i also had returned to the same area in northern californa, after the ten years i had lived in orgon.

this was in my 20s that i knew him. i do not know the wareabouts of either of my former lovers from before i met my wife. this was not childhood, but again also in my 20s.

so there's really no one from that era, i have any certainty as to where they are now, let alone seen for decades now. my wife of 13 years died five years ago and my mother a year later.

as for my pre-teen years, and in my conception of such things, chidhood ends when adolescense begins, well i just have absolutely no idea, and while there is much and many things i remember from my childhood, their names are not among them.

i remember places as they were then, and how they have evolved over the years since, but not individual persons, except for those very very few. and those i've long since lost track of as well.

 

Wow! Those must be good friendships after that many years. When I retire and get more free time, I hope to get back in touch with as many old friends as possible - not just through facebook.

 

It's never too late to try and rekindle the friendships.

I understand what you mean with Facebook. It came out while I was in college so I have had a ton of highs school and college friends on my friends list for ages. I recently deleted a ton of people that I no longer keep up with and actually talk to. Something strange about seeing these peoples lives take place and being privy to every detail - I just don't want to be that involved. I also wanted to limit the audience for who I share with.

I feel Facebook and social networking sites actually make us less social. Because instead of picking up the phone and saying hello to someone, a quick 10 minute conversation… we're going online to view their pictures to see what they've been up to and sometimes never actually making contact because the desire to know how the person is has been met. Its phony.

I do keep in contact with a few friends. First of all, my cousins are like my best friends from child hood so I will never lose them. I have a few best friends, who live in Texas, and I still keep in touch with them. I've known those girls since we were 8-12 years old - and we are also Facebook friends haha. We've known each other 18-20 years.

The thing is, its important to make time for those who have been there for you in your life. My girlfriends swap trips with me, either I go see them or they come visit me. It's great because we get to leave home and go on mini vacations with all the comforts of the home of our friends. We've actually been flying to visit each other since we were in our teens.

 

That must have been tough moving around so much. I remember 3 different people that moved to my area while I was going up that I knew were having trouble adjusting (at least at my school). One became one of my best friends, another was a good friend but during high school we didn't have many cases together. The other one moved away after finally breaking out of his shell. I've tred to find him on Facebook with no luck. Just wanted to see how things turned out.

I can't imagine how hard moving around trying to fit in over and over must be for a kid

It sounds like it had an effect on you, YouFreeMe, but it also sounds like you are doing well with that.

 

Does it make you feel bad to make friends and then have to move and not see them any more?