Do you still have friends from middle and high school?

[NoHuddleKelly12]

16 hours ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

All of the friends I still keep in touch with are from HS.  Couple from college.  We’ve moved so much I never really made close friendships with many people...except one dude in Alaska that I see a couple times a year (he’s single, has $, and loves to travel).  We meet up different places for SU basketball games.

 

We’ve been here in VT for 8 years and I don’t really have any friends that I would consider close.  Mostly just acquaintances.  I’m too old and too busy and don’t really care anymore.

It takes a lot of effort/energy to maintain close friendships, and the older I get the more I’m focused on my immediate family/kids which doesn’t leave much for anyone else—it’s actually easier keeping up with you all on this board than folks IRL from years ago 😁, plus I never bothered to set up FB & the like. I stay in touch with a handful of friends from college now and then, that’s about it. 

[Draconator]

My senior class is fairly tight knit. We have had our share of tragedy's post graduation that have kept us close. Our female class clown organized all the reunions and get togethers. She passed away from Cancer about 4 years ago. Another one of our class mates had her 13 year old son die in an ATV accident. A bunch of us try to go to his yearly memorial golf tournament that raises money for brain trauma research. 

[muppy]

keep in touch yes quite a few really. Facebook counts as far as Im concerned. If I needed to ask a favor THEN I'd know how many true friends I still have from WNY days. No need yet but to me that's the litmus test. Many of us left the area but quite a few did stay.

[Augie]

1 hour ago, Muppy said:

keep in touch yes quite a few really. Facebook counts as far as Im concerned. If I needed to ask a favor THEN I'd know how many true friends I still have from WNY days. No need yet but to me that's the litmus test. Many of us left the area but quite a few did stay.

 

Post that you need a ride to an early flight at the airport or help moving on a  Sunday at kickoff. See who your true friends are! I suggest you start with @Gugny, he’s a quality, standup individual who will be there for whatever you need! (Just be sure you have a solid backup plan!) 

[Patrick Duffy]

If you haven't heard from anyone from those days in a very long time I bet they would pop up everywhere if you happened to hit the lotto. They all would find you somehow

[Not at the table Karlos]

On 10/1/2021 at 9:00 PM, Augie said:

 

This is meant politely, but where do you live and how long have you been there? How many people have you considered friends?  This is VERY impressive. 

 

I left WNY for college at 17. Of all my friends growing up, only one is now in WNY and he spent a decade or so in Boston. 

 

There are a couple old friends I’m on a text thread with regarding the Bills.  I lost the number for the one guy left in WNY on a phone change, I think. Would love to get together on my next trip back. The last time I saw him was about a dozen years ago taking my youngest to a Bills home game when he turned 16, I think. 

 

I had lunch today with a guy from college I had not seen in years. He was an RA when I was a freshman. We became friends and he would visit when I lived in Hilton Head (most people would). It was great to see him, but strange knowing a lot of the memories he brought up were 40+ years ago. He retired about 3 weeks ago and has ridiculous travel plans. For one thing, he’s going to see the Stones in Pittsburg this weekend, then Tampa then here in Atlanta. I never knew he had that kind of AMBITION! 

 

 

. 

I have lived in the wny area for my whole life. I've been down near the PA border and up near lake Ontario. A lot of the time I've lived somewhere near Niagara falls blvd. Falls, wheatfield, Amherst. When not near Blvd Ive been in north Buffalo or black rock. 

 

I'd say 12 people in three groups. They're pretty much family at this point. 4 of them moved out of state. We talk pretty often and visit as often as possible. 

 

I have really bad social anxiety so a lot of work goes into potential new friends. 

Edited October 3, 2021 by Not at the table Karlos

[Bill from NYC]

Yes. I am lucky enough to have 3 close friends like this. We grew up together in the 60's. We have made trips to Orchard Park to see the Bills, and many of the posters here have met these great, wonderful guys. I promise, you will never hear a bad word about them. 

One of them in particular likes to ask @BADOLBILZ football questions while the rest of us listen lol!

 

In fact, we will be meeting up on 10/12 and going to a great Italian place in Queens.  

Edited October 3, 2021 by Bill from NYC

[rockpile]

I have a couple friends that I stay in touch with since the sixties. In keeping with this thread, one friend was in town from Seattle this weekend and we had dinner last night. I had not seen him in about 10 years, when I traveled out to Seattle. We stay in touch occasionally on line, but he is like a brother. Along with our spouses, were a couple of other long time acquaintances.

 

There are perhaps ten people I remain close to since the sixties and early seventies, but sadly mostly on line, or only a couple times a year in person.

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

Wait . . . . with the social skills often displayed on this board, y'all actually HAD friends in middle school and high school?

[Bermuda Triangle]

22 hours ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

 

I don’t have an “account” there because it’s really toxic and unpleasant, but I also do lurk.  I met CuseTroop at a bar.  I had just moved there and knew no one, so I was by myself just having some drinks.  I was wearing my SU hat, so he came up to me and struck up a conversation with me.  We’ve been really close friends ever since.  Awesome dude and very fun to party with.

You ever venture to the Football forum here? 😀

 

Some of his stories are legendary.  I skip over probably 95% of the content there, but read his posts.

[May Day 10]

Yes, I do.  Close knit group of us.  We can't get together so much due to kids, jobs, and all that.. but we still do stuff.  Camping, bills games, etc.

[Beast]

Of course but I never see them.

[NyQuil]

I’m 39 and met my best friends in elementary school.

[notwoz]

There are two high school classmates (class of 1968) I still maintain regular contact with. Several more are FB friends. There are about a dozen college classmates who still get together on a semi-regular basis.   

[BarleyNY]

One from Kindergarten, another from elementary school and my best friend is from middle school age.

[boater]

I keep in touch with only three friends.

 

The rest of my HS class is dead or in prison making shivs. It was a tough school.

[PolishDave]

I make an effort to maintain contact and visit with the core group of close friends from my youth.   Some more frequent than others, but rarely more than a month goes by without having some kind of contact with one of them (out of a handful).  We go out for drinks, get together for family parties, get together for holidays, go hunting together, go on fishing trips, go camping together, take vacations together, etc.   

 

We have been there for each other at our weddings, when kids and now grandkids are born - and also as we have lost family members.

 

For me personally, maintaining deep lifelong relationships has been one of the things that has made life great so far and truly worth cherishing.    

 

I intend to keep doing it as long as we live and I'll be there for them and their families when we start dropping dead from the diseases of old age.

 

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/

 

"Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed. Those ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes. That finding proved true across the board among both the Harvard men and the inner-city participants."

Edited October 6, 2021 by PolishDave

[DCOrange]

I'd say arguably my best friend is a kid I grew up with. Went to elementary, middle, and high school together. We went our separate ways for college; we'd occasionally play video games online together but that was it. We reconnected towards the end of college and became really close again. I live in DC and he lives in Atlanta so we don't see each other all that often, but we talk a pretty decent amount and try to go on a couples vacation together every year or two.

 

Outside of him, I have a few other friends from high school but it's mostly just guys that were in the same friend circle and play video games together. We've all spread out at this point and most of them are the types of people that will just go radio silent for weeks at a time so it's tough to see each other in person.

 

I have a few friends from college that I talk to pretty regularly but don't really see in person (most of them live in NYC or Boston) and a couple friends in DC. But the people I'm really close with are mostly family or people that are essentially adopted family.

[That's No Moon]

On 10/1/2021 at 1:03 PM, Another Fan said:

I only kept in touch with a limited number once I finished high school.  But they all died out for me.  You know what you have in common with people then changes over time kinda thing…

 

Not complaining.  Life is meant for new people to enter

 

How about you 

 

 

One, but we grew up on the same street and even then I see him once every couple years because we live 7 hours apart. We text occasionally. Other than that? No and to be honest I don't know why I would still be friends with any of those people. IMO friendships are casual relationships with people who move in and out of your life based on proximity and shared experiences. I maintain friend relationships with 3 people I knew in college. 1 from before that. It's not that I don't like those other people, it's just that there's no reason to maintain the relationship. Maybe I'm weird, I dunno.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Wait, I thought all of you were my best friends….