How did you survive your teenage friendships?

[Geffellz18]

Certainly-My two closest friends post high school are doing alright. One’s been a hustler ever since I’ve known him & is now a very successful home builder with a very large family. He and I still keep in touch & try to get together anytime I head home.
The other I haven’t talked to in about 5 years. He had a rough upbringing growing up. Just talked to his aunt(basically his mom growing up) a couple of weeks ago when home and he’s doing well. Finally got married and still doing well in law enforcement.
My best friend through middle & high school got popped for drug trafficking & distribution charges just a few years out of high school. Started to distance myself from him when I heard he was mixed up in it. Was part of one of the biggest drug trafficking busts ever in NW FL at the time.
The leader of it all was an acquaintance too-not really a friend per se, whose dad actually led the case. Pretty wild for our little town, but glad I listened to the parentals & had somewhat of a moral compass-At least when it came to drugs.
Alky-haul was a different story though!
Now I don’t too much care to partake in it either.

 

[Redbow]

There were 9 of us growing up that were the best of friends. We did everything together from hunting and fishing to the Saturday night drive in restaurant car hop. We never got into trouble with the law, we did not drink nor smoke not one of us. After high school we went our separate ways with our jobs and marriage and sometimes didn't see one another for years.

Four of my friends have since passed this life, all of us are old and grey now and mostly getting feeble with age. I often remember the good times that my friends and I had together, the ones that are left I haven't seen in many years and probably will never seen them again, but I do have the memories from those days of youth and great times with my buddies. Every one of us came off the farm, we didn't have much time to get into trouble everyone had to work back in the day and we often worked together especially in tobacco and cotton. We survived as friends because we loved and respected each other.

Like Railroader, I do not go to high school reunions. Parties and social events I do not do, but I help my neighbors any way I can. My circle of friends is very small also but that's the way I prefer it. I don't associate with people who are drunks, drug addicts or outlaws. But if I can help anyone in this life I will do what I can for them, no matter what that person is like, my Grandpa taught me that many decades ago. Life is short and terminal, enjoy it while you can.

 

[specialk]

I moved away from most of mine, but when i visit back home i try and go see as many as i can.....

 

[transfixer]

Only had two or three good friends in high school, couple moved away afterwards, remained good friends with one for many years, although he was more of a leach than he was a good friend, I seem to attract the kind of friends that I end up helping way more than they ever return the favor, I've always been driven, and ambitious , and they haven't , I dropped them somewhere along the line when I realized they weren't true friends,

I've got a couple close friends now that I met later in life, and probably the closest friend and one person I can actually count on in a jam is my ex-wife,

Hard to find friends you can really trust in today's world unfortunately

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Don't keep in touch with many but have had one friend for over 50 years. Met in church at 8 years old, played ball together, went to college together, got in plenty of trouble together, best man in each others weddings and have stayed in touch to this day. Best friend a guy could ever ask for. Hope he feels the same about me. Others just gone by the wayside over time.

 

[alphachief]

I have lots of acquaintances but just a handful of friends. I’ve known that handful since JR high. Grew up fishing and riding dirt bikes. We were football, baseball, track teammates in HS. Frat brothers in college, in each others weddings, there for the birth of our children and a couple of divorces. Been there through all the good and bad for 50 years. A stranger listening to our conversations would think we don’t like each other…but at 63 to this day, you fight one…you’d have to fight us all. While we were “detained” a couple of times, we were never arrested. All of us were lucky enough to make it through our drug and reckless lifestyle phase. Wouldn’t of changed a thing!

 

[Geffellz18]

I have lots of acquaintances but just a handful of friends.

About sums me up too. Have always felt this way about others. I consider a friend someone that’ll be there for you at a moments notice without question if the need ever arose. Other than close family, I can count those in my life on one hand and not use all fingers!-I try to tell my daughter that’s the reality because everyone she seems to know and has a friendly relationship with is her “friend” in her eyes.
Definitely not so!

 

[alphachief]

About sums me up too. Have always felt this way about others. I consider a friend someone that’ll be there for you at a moments notice without question if the need ever arose. Other than close family, I can count those in my life on one hand and not use all fingers!-I try to tell my daughter that’s the reality because everyone she seems to know and has a friendly relationship with is her “friend” in her eyes.
Definitely not

I think the older you get, the better you understand friend vs acquaintance.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I was pretty much the only one who left my town. I don’t know what is going on with any of them these days.

 

[BeerThirty]

90s kid here. When I think of my teenage years, it was nothing but a party. Growing up in Wisco, there is a very disturbing drinking culture there. For reference, my dad bought me my first beer, at a bar, when I shot my first deer at 12-yrs old. By 14, he was buying beer for my buddies and I. We lived in the country at the ege of town, on acreage, back in the woods. My house was a prime location for bonfire parties, cops couldn't see from the road. My parents let me host underage drinking parties all the time by the time I was 16. Yeah, it was wild.

When we weren't partying, we did all sorts of stuff. We fished a lot and duck hunted a lot. Winters we ice fished a lot, rode snowmobiles.

I've got two buddies who've stuck with me since those years, and they are the two best friends a guy could ask for. We've changed a lot, sure. But we have some great memories. They have not left town. One is very successful now, running his own home construction business. The other lives low-key with his mother. I still see them whenever I travel back around the holidays.

 

[BeerThirty]

I think the older you get, the better you understand friend vs acquaintance.

Couldn't have said it better myself. My dad told me that when I was young, and I found out for myself not much longer after he told me that.

 

[27metalman]

Never see or hear from my crowd... we all live in different towns. Two are doing okay I guess... married with families. Another went off the deep end long ago. I don't Facebook or any other platform like that. I have a very small circle. People that need or want me know how to get me. I do miss those stupid good times though.

 

[leroy]

2 closest ones have families and loving life as i am. There was a group in HS that i finally disassociated with and told another friend to do same as they were trouble, he instead went and told them what i said. But 2 went on to die in seperate alcohol related car crashes, others went thru drug problems served jail time for years some eventually straightened up.

 

[Mauser]

Huntin, fishin, and work kept me out trouble. There was drankin and little reefer involved too. We were very lucky and the Lord was looking after us. Only talk to one,probably my best buddy from back then. My circle is very small now. Really just my wife and 2 kids, and that’s good with me. I got all my wild ways out before i met my wife when I was 29. Been together everyday since we first met 9 years ago

 

[mallardsx2]

Closing in on 40 and I only considered one person I grew up with a friend. I fear that as of this spring our friendship has now come to a close. He was my "best" friend.

Unfortunately, alcohol has ruined him, and he has driven away every friend he has ever had, and I was the last one standing. He called me up one day in the middle of the day completely hammered and said some things to me on the phone that are not able to be taken back. Mostly out of jealousy (and I am not a person to be very jealous of).

I ended the call, and I haven't talked to him in months, and I am unsure if I will answer the phone when/if he calls again.

Good friends are very hard to find.

 

[basstrkr]

This is an interesting thread. I recently was thinking about the same thing, how I had lost contact with my childhood friends, but at a little different angle. I didn't break off ties with anyone , it just happened. But the beginning of that happened when we turned 16 got license and cars. (mostly junk). What I recently realized is at that age friends become competitors for girls, cars, jobs, and who can do something "interesting" and survive.

I got married at 19, and move 20 miles away to another town. I didn't drink much, didn't smoke, no law trouble. But still done some stupid things as a teenager. And I've always been thankful I moved away and didn't have to be there to explain why I did some of those things.

 

[JustUs4All]

I make acquaintances very easily but I seem to have a gene that makes it more difficult for me to trust folks. I have made very few real friends in life. There is no one from my high school days that are friends. There is one one old partner from work that is a friend. He changed agencies and we haven't been in the same room for 30 years but I have no doubt that If I call him and tell him that I have a body that I need help with, he would be on the way. I would do the same with few questions as I would know there would be a good reason for the need.

 

[BeerThirty]

Closing in on 40 and I only considered one person I grew up with a friend. I fear that as of this spring our friendship has now come to a close. He was my "best" friend.

Unfortunately, alcohol has ruined him, and he has driven away every friend he has ever had, and I was the last one standing. He called me up one day in the middle of the day completely hammered and said some things to me on the phone that are not able to be taken back. Mostly out of jealousy (and I am not a person to be very jealous of).

I ended the call, and I haven't talked to him in months, and I am unsure if I will answer the phone when/if he calls again.

Good friends are very hard to find.

Man that's terrible. I hope one day he realizes what he has done and can be forgiven.

 

[mallardsx2]

Man that's terrible. I hope one day he realizes what he has done and can be forgiven.

Against my wife's advice, I forgave him for what he said.

But I think this case is closed.

We were supposed to go to Colorado in September. He didn't even have the nerve to call me to tell me if he drew the tag.

I hope I don't run into him on the mountain while I am out there. Because that's going to be very weird.

 

[EAGLE EYE 444]

I was born and raised in Lincoln County, Georgia which is one of the smallest counties in Georgia. I was the youngest of six kids and since all of the rest of them were super smart, I knew that I also had to "pull my weight" and get a college education as well. I moved to Augusta on the same night that I graduated from high school when I was still 17 years old. I had a job already lined up to start the following Monday morning. I worked all summer and saved my money and moved back home and started college in the fall. From that day forward, I was always somewhat independent as I have paid all of my bills.

After graduating from college, I moved to Orangeburg, S.C. for a couple of years as I had a job lined up at tool manufacturing plant. I returned to Augusta and moved in with two best friends as we all had grown up together in Lincoln County.

By living in Lincoln County, most everybody knew one another and most parents knew everybody else's kids so you had better behave for sure. The fact is that by living in a rural county, you will have lots and lots of friends. That is just the kind of place where most everybody quickly knows everyone else.

Thankfully, I also bought property there which was part of my grandfather's homestead and I love spending time up in the woods while enjoying all of the wildlife. It is the most relaxing place on earth to me. I also enjoy deer hunting and also fishing in the ponds as well. Everything is so quiet, you can easily hear vehicles traveling the roadways from a mile or more away. Lincoln County is surrounded by Clark Hill Lake on two of the three sides. Four of the main five highways entering Lincoln County all have bridges as you cross over this lake to arrive in Lincoln County. When this lake was built, it was the largest man-made lake east of the Mississippi River as it has over 1200 miles of shoreline. This lake was created because of the Savannah River that flowed down from the North Carolina border with South Carolina and Georgia state lines. Along the way, there are three lakes and dams involved in this river system that help to create electricity for all of these years as well.

My Father was one of the engineers that worked on the Clark Hill Lake Project as they surveyed the lands involved to determine just how much land would ultimately be underwater after this lake was formed. I still remember some of the surveying instruments that he used back then. My Father ultimately began working for the Georgia Department of Transportation Engineering Division, as they designed and also surveyed every new highway that was built in Georgia over a period of the next 40 years. That also included Interstate 20 from the South Carolina border to the Alabama border. Keep in mind, back then, there were NO GPS satellites and computers involved.

This Clark Hill lake is one of the most beautiful lakes in the country as it is "still really clean" and is a wonderland for various outdoor enthusiasts especially from across the southeast. I still visit the lake very often as it is also less than a mile of my Lincoln County property.

I also still pay for the weekly hometown Lincoln Journal newspaper as well so that I can keep up with most everything that happens in my small hometown. It is a "bustling place" for a "small town environment".

Lincoln County was really put on the map because of its small town "Championship football teams" year after year, decade after decade. I played way back then as well and I can still remember those super hot summer practices. Being able to play football for Lincoln County was the goal of most every young boy as we grew up.

It has also been wonderful to have several "best friends" during all of the growing up years and I still stay in touch with them. Most everybody knew everybody else and everybody got along great. This is a place where neighbors always help each other in any way possible.

One of the TRUE things about Lincoln County is the fact that if you happened to buy property and move there....and you originally did not have any close relatives there, YOU are called an "NFL" for life...even if you reach 90 plus years of age before you die. The NFL moniker is the fact that you were "NOT FROM LINCOLNTON" originally.

If any of you ever decide to possibility move to Lincoln County, just make sure that you know a heck of a lot about football before arriving.

I know that I am blessed beyond words because I have been very successful in owning my business for the past 31 years. I have also been in the same type business for 51 years now. I still have several of my original customers, and thankfully, I can "pick and choose" what I do to a big extent as I know that I am well past the normal retirement age. I have also been blessed that when I wake up each morning, I don't owe a singe penny to anyone at that moment because I do my best to pay all of my personal and business expenses the same day that I receive a bill for them.