How did you survive your teenage friendships?

[fireman32]

Sitting here on the back porch listening to the rain got me to thinking about my old friends. There were 4 of us, always together. Riding 4 wheelers, skipping school, hunting, fishing, frog gigging and mud bogging. No cell phones back then, just being wild and young.
Well I moved on, married with kids and a great life. I’ve never been in trouble with the law, or done anything to bad. But.
Friend one is married with kids and is an alcoholic.
Friend two has been in and out of jail so many times I’ve lost count. He seems to be on the right track now. Hope he stays that way. Alcohol was also his biggest problem, along with a not so good home life. I gave him $100 for gas a good while back and haven’t heard from him since.
Friend three is in jail for murder. Got mixed up on drugs and shot a man in cold blood while the man was sleeping.
Makes me worry a little more about my two sons and what all they could get into.
Y’all have any friends that just wouldn’t do right?

 

[sinclair1]

Same here, lots of drunks and some still do the bar fights at 55 years old. Just had one on cold case files for a 1997 murder. We hung out in 97 too!
I met my wife June 97. Have 5 or so dead and 2 still in prison. I left that corn crib life in the rear view

 

[The Original Rooster]

I've only kept up with a couple of friends from my childhood/teenage years. Thankfully we all turned out well. Of the 3 of us, I was the one that had the most trouble in my 20's from the flood in 94 and losing both parents before I was 30 but I never got in any trouble. Now we're all in our 50's and have good lives but I know what you mean.
I've followed up on a few old friends in high school and college and have seen just about everything from drug dealers and users to white collar criminals in prison to preachers to federal agents and police officers.
You just never know how folks are going to turn out.

 

[Railroader]

I have nothing to do with any of my old running buddies. Not necessarily by choice, it's just the way life goes. Different directions and all...

My circle nowadays is very small, and that's fine by me.

I ain't never even been to a class reunion. That is also fine with me..

 

[Iwannashoot]

Lost touch with most of the shady ones I knew years ago. Life is about choices for all of us. Some make the right ones, others the wrong ones. In the end you get to choose which way you go. Teach your son's this and show them that you truly care and things will work out OK.

 

[fireman32]

I have nothing to do with any of my old running buddies. Not necessarily by choice, it's just the way life goes. Different directions and all...

My circle nowadays is very small, and that's fine by me.

I ain't never even been to a class reunion. That is also fine with me..

Me either, didn’t much care for school. No need for me to go back.

 

[livinoutdoors]

Most all my friends from back then were losers. I was a loser. We all did loser stuff. Some moved on and did ok. Most didnt. Life is hard on folks who dont learn lessons early and make improvements to themselves i guess.

 

[Big7]

Same here, lots of drunks and some still do the bar fights at 55 years old. Just had one on cold case files for a 1997 murder. We hung out in 97 too!
I met my wife June 97. Have 5 or so dead and 2 still in prison. I left that corn crib life in the rear view

Me too.

All my close childhood friends are dead.

I still see a few folks I know from high school but they're not really close friends.

Most of my friends from early adulthood are gone too and the rest owe me money so I'm not looking for them to come around.

 

[Raylander]

Yes, I loosely stay in touch with most of my friends from HS. Some more than others. There was a few that turned to drugs and we don’t talk to them anymore. About 10 of us try to get together once a month and play poker or something. Half are married with kids, the other half are still wild doggin. Makes for funny stories

I have one buddy that may as well be my brother. We’ve been best friends since 6th grade. Made lotsa memories over the years. Always there for one another throughout life’s hardships. He’s one of about 3 men I’d trust my life to

 

[antharper]

My experience is about the same as yours fireman .
One of my closest friends growing up never grew up . Jail a few times , 5 years in prison for robbery. Got out and got on the right track, married, a couple kids, great job . But just never could leave the drugs alone . About 2 years ago he pulled over on a dirt road and walked out in the woods and took his life.
Another has been in and out of jail, drugs and alcohol and far as I know he’s in prison now.
Another kinda settled down after we got in our 20’s . Was in a fight at a party and a guy hit him over the head with a liquor bottle and knocked him out. Later that night he went to the guys house and kicked in his door and the guy shot and killed him . He left a wife and 2 young sons.
I could go on and on , I’m just thankful I knew when to grow up and what kind of life I wanted to live .
I’m pretty certain your 2 boys will be just fine , seems you are raising 2 fine young men . But I know what you are saying , my daughter is about to be 20 and I think about what me and my friends , girls and boys were up to at that age .

 

[2dye4]

My family are my only friends along with a few in the small circle. Hard to trust anyone anymore.

 

[Lukikus2]

Those were the fun times. It’s a wonder most of us survived. One thing is. We would still come and help the other with one call. No matter the circumstances in years past.

 

[ChidJ]

This was a fun read. I haven't kept up with HS folks really since I left. We had some fun and got into some trouble, pretty typical. I hope they are all doing well. One recently contacted me and we chatted briefly. Seems to be doing well and it gave me an odd happiness to know it.

But I often think about that second part of what you said. I've got good sons but I worry about them getting mixed up in stuff, falling off track, and never getting back on. Just so many pitfalls just waiting for them

 

[ddgarcia]

My lifelong best friend and I met in 1st grade. Kinda drifted a little when my folks got divorced and we moved a town over. We were in the 4th/5th grade at the time but stayed in touch and when the drivers licenses were acquired we were GON.

We were fortunate I guess, never landed in jail, managed to always skate just on the short side of the line despite the likker, brief forays into drugs and the wimminz. Met up with a group of older fellas, to the tune of 10-12yrs, and well established in life, when we were about 18 that took us "under their wings" and fortunately they walked the same path just shy of the line. I am still friends and stay in contact regularly with those guys despite 3000 miles separating us.

Of my high school friends (Acquaintances mostly really), one I know turned to drugs fairly early on and not really sure what became of him, one has died of cancer and another couldn't put down the bottle and drank himself to death. Of the rest last I knew they were in various stages of good lives when we drifted apart.

 

[fireman32]

It’s a unpredictable thing it seems. Two of us came from broken homes, but I had a good daddy that kept me after the divorce, I was 2 at the time. The other two had stable families and still turned out rough.

 

[kmckinnie]

Maybe y’all’s parents made the difference and just don’t realize it.

It seems from ones I’ve met again and Facebook they pretty much doing great.

 

[sinclair1]

I had 3 under age possessions of alcohol before I turned 21. I paid a ticket for all three in my small town.

I hear today kids would need lawyers for those tickets.

 

[Raylander]

@fireman32 there comes a time when you have to lean on what you taught them and the example you set. Then let them go and become men. The best thing is to support them and share advice when/if they ask. One thing I can share from my life is that I had to lose to learn how to win… No one’s fault but mine, I was stubborn and wild

I don’t know you, but I imagine you did good. I bet they’ll make mistakes (like all of us) but will be fine men

 

[Raylander]

but I had a good daddy that kept me after the divorce

#metoo

And not a day goes by that I don’t think about that situation and what it took from him to make me what I am today. Having a father is most important to a child IMO

 

[Toliver]

I never really had friends in high school. I dabbled in being a teenager but never really found it interesting. I was too busy hunting and fishing to go out with people on weekends. All of my childhood friends were mostly the adults in the hunting club. Of course I played with their kids while we were in camp but I related more to the adults. Growing up with 10 or 15 sets of parents tends to keep one from doing anything stupid enough to land in any trouble. That and I was always way more scared of my dad than I ever was the police.

I can't think of a single person my age that I went to school with that I could give a current report on.