How long is your oldest friendship?

TinaM

TinaM

Member
I couldn’t really afford to stay in the same state where I’d lived most of my adult life after I retired (California), and thought it would be easy to make friends anywhere. I traveled a bit and am now in my second new state in 7 years.

Acquaintances are nice but I’m so glad I kept in touch with a very good friend for the last 22 years. We still text every week and talk on the phone a couple times a month. I’ve flown back to see her 4 times since I left.

There’s something about old friends. Wish I had more.
 

My whole life actually. My best friend all throughout school (and a 3rd cousin to boot) was born on the same day... 5 minutes after I was born. So we grew up as toddlers together, went all through school together, stayed in touch, and more recently have grieved the loss of parents together. Kate & Karen... friends forever. (y)
 

TinaM said:
I couldn’t really afford to stay in the same state where I’d lived most of my adult life after I retired (California), and thought it would be easy to make friends anywhere. I traveled a bit and am now in my second new state in 7 years.
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I have heard and found that making new friends as an adult can be more difficult?
TinaM said:
Acquaintances are nice but I’m so glad I kept in touch with a very good friend for the last 22 years. We still text every week and talk on the phone a couple times a month. I’ve flown back to see her 4 times since I left.
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It's nice that you have had one for so long! What a blessing. :)

For me, I have people who were once dear friends decades ago (even as far back as childhood), but are now acquaintances. We Continued to grow & change as the years went by and found that we didn't have as much in common. I still think the world of them, we just don't seem to have a lot to talk about these days.
 
I have a friend a I've know since kindergarten. He pulled a P&J sandwich out of his coat pocket and gave me half, been friends ever since. We don't live close by and don't speak often these days but if I called him up and said I hurt my back can you come tie my shoe laces he would do it, and I would do it for him. Of course there would be lots of good natured teasing involved but we would still do it.

There's also two guys I've known since highschool I see every few months.
 
Met my BFF when we were 11. We moved to So Cal after HS and continue to see each other often. We text every few days and talk on the phone every couple of weeks. While we won't admit to helping bury bodies for each other, we both carry shovels in our trunks...

I'm also in a close group of four women - we've been good friends for 40 years. See each other every month or so, and text often.

A small group of HS alums formed a strong friendship 25 years while we planned a reunion via email and we've maintained it ever since. The 7 of us text nearly every day and Zoom weekly.

Most importantly, I'm close friends with my husband. Also my children, grandchildren and siblings. It might seem odd to characterize these relationships as friendships, but many marriages are more akin to parallel lives than loving, happy, FUN, supportive relationships. Same with relationships with our children & grands.

Estrangements within families are more common - and far more painful - than many might expect.
 
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My best friend is originally from Estonia, although he was raised from around 10 to his current age of 81 in the USA. He still can speak Estonian and a couple of other languages, but he comes across as pure American with no accent. He is a special guy; we met when we both were working in a bank many years ago. We have been good friends since 1970...! 55 years...not bad!

I have known my wife for 57 years...
 
55 yrs. is my longest friendship .. she lives on the West Coast, and we are in touch via email. We went to school together. There were years that we lost touch, then I found her through her mother's obituary.

The 2nd longest friendship is 50 yrs. with a work colleague. She recently lost her husband, and lives on the East Coast. We email regularly.
 
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"How long is your oldest friendship?" My oldest friendship(s) would be a couple of co-workers I've known about 40 years, but my one best friend I've only known for 25 years.

I have a 30 year old birthday list that has 93 names on it. Those are friends and relatives I have sent cards to or acknowledged their birthday in some way in the past. Of those, 53 have passed on, and I've lost touch with 28, leaving only 12. Time has made many changes.
 
I met my oldest friend when we were both 14, so 65 years. We talk every few months. Lots of ways we've grown apart but we are still BFF and hope to remain so. Another friend the same amount of time but I seldom talk to her, just see her when I visit NY every few years (which I don't think I'll be doing again!)
 
My best friend of longest duration I met 72 years ago in elementary school. By high school we had solidified the BF relationship. Today we still keep in touch and have much in common. Earlier best friends go back further, but I've lost touch with all of those. I grew up in Chicago, but left home right out of high school, and developed closer relationships during the next 40 years in Montana. A couple of them go back to my college years. It's impossible to identify my best friend ever. That status changes from time to time. It's kind of a rotating classification. And many of them are now dead.
 
For 43 years my wife has been my best friends. Perhaps it is because as a navy brat we were always moving that I didn't accumulate close friends until after high school. But I've always had an easy time talking to new people and can usually have a good conversation with someone in any situation.

I have a good friend I correspond with regularly now who lives in another country. He was also a military brat with a father in the English military. We're both from large size families by today's standards. But I'm the second oldest out of seven while he is the oldest of four or five. He is my first male friend in adulthood since the one did a lot of adventuring with in my early/mid twenties. I'm close with my ten years younger brother but that is a big enough gap that it has rarely felt equal. Still I've told him when he retires, when my wife passes I wouldn't mind teaming up in old age.
 
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