Old friends

zedex

Gator Bait
Yesterday, I had a pleasant conversation with a life long friend over the phone. Was great talking about when we were kids and how the years passed.
I've mentioned her here a time or two in the past.
We are both in out mid 50s now and have known each other for around 46 years. In that time, we've both had friends come and go, some lost to time and distance, others to various events and some to death.

We met in school, she lived just down the road from me and it was still a time when whites and blacks rarely played together, (though we didnt know it then).

My family moved to a neighboring town and we lost touch for about 8 years when I moved back and we found each other in high school. Other than catching up, it was as though we never parted ways.

Marriages, kids, divorces, difference of opinions, and many other things but through it all, the friendship never ended. When I'm down that way, she is the first person I visit.

Think about it for a moment. A little white boy and a little black girl in the early 70s, in the deep south, would become lifelong friends.

We couldn't be any more different. But we're still here.

Anyone else have that lifelong friendship?
 

dwhee87

GON Political Forum Scientific Studies Poster
My grade school best friend is like that. We probably see each other once every 8-10 years, but talk on the phone a couple times a year, and it always seems we pick up right where we left off the last time.
 

zedex

Gator Bait
My grade school best friend is like that. We probably see each other once every 8-10 years, but talk on the phone a couple times a year, and it always seems we pick up right where we left off the last time.
Do yall live far apart?
 

Hornet22

ROMEO
Had a long time bro up hera @ da Cafe'356 last week. Went to high school tagether and hooked up after 35+ years because of this awesome place Mr. Woody started up a long time ago. He looks a lot older'n me tho.::ke:

:cheers:
 

dwhee87

GON Political Forum Scientific Studies Poster
Do yall live far apart?
until recently, he was in Indiana ( where we grew up) and I'm in Ga, but he recently retired to Kiowa Island SC, so we're planning they together sometime soon.
 

PopPop

Gone But Not Forgotten
Absolutely. Me and Marc have been best buds for 53 years, we have marked all of life’s milestones together. He is truly my brother from another mother.
 

Patriot44

Banned
I'm actually quite the opposite. I left home at 19 for the Army and have never really returned home. I visit once or twice per year but just to see my dad. I am friends with most of my childhood friends on social media, but we really don't talk with each other. I can only guess that the Army changed me and I really have no desire to reconnect with any of them.
 

John Cooper

?Now I Got One A Them Banner Things
I'm actually quite the opposite. I left home at 19 for the Army and have never really returned home. I visit once or twice per year but just to see my dad. I am friends with most of my childhood friends on social media, but we really don't talk with each other. I can only guess that the Army changed me and I really have no desire to reconnect with any of them.
This is basically the way I am. When we moved from Madison county (I was in the 7th grade). I have lived in a lot of States went to a bunch of schools and made many friends but don't keep up with any of them. I would have to say my wife is my best friend, we have been married for 27 years and I can be happy sitting at home with her or going out on a date with just her. She doesn't care if I hunt all I want as long as I take her fishing in the summer!
 

sinclair1

Senior Member
I'm actually quite the opposite. I left home at 19 for the Army and have never really returned home. I visit once or twice per year but just to see my dad. I am friends with most of my childhood friends on social media, but we really don't talk with each other. I can only guess that the Army changed me and I really have no desire to reconnect with any of them.
I live 30 miles from where I grew up and left most of the friends there to rot away, getting in bar fights at 50 yrs old, etc.
They befriend my social media only to see how much I have changed, then delete me same hour. I am sure they were looking to share some loser stories and bask in misery together. Surprise! Nothing but positive happening in Sinclairville.

I was voted most likely to go to prison!
 

Batjack

Cap`n Jack 1313
My only "childhood" friend that didn't end up a "Lifer" passed about a year ago, leaving me with one great friend that I met in middle school still living close. Now his wife is moving them to West Virginia. So now I have a friend in W.V., and two that I made as a adult.. one in L.A. (Lower Alabama) and one that has a house on the Rockford River Ill. that's a over the road expediter that never knows when he'll be in town. Made more friends on GON than I ever did elsewhere.
 

zedex

Gator Bait
I became friends with a few others in school that I was in touch with as adults. One moved to south Florida and I lost track of him.
Two others were murdered 10 years ago along with other family members.

A fella I hired 20 years ago when I lived down there is still a great friend.
 

KyDawg

Gone But Not Forgotten
I have three lifelong friend in South Georgia. We grew up playing together, later as they got older my father would pay them what he could to help around the shop. This was in the late fifties and the 60's. Old man Crow was alive and well, but there were more friendships among races, than you would expect. We communicate on FB now. When I went back down to Moultrie for my moms funeral they were all there. It was the first time I had seen them in 15 years and they all had tears in their eyes of how much they loved my Mother and Father.

For the last year and a half I have been working on a book that is set in 1950's South Georgia and even though it is fiction, a lot of it is based on my real life experiences as a Kid back then.
 

Havana Dude

Senior Member
Ive become somewhat of a loner. I have about 5 friends, true, good friends, and a million aqauintences.Life tends to get in the way of most friendships.my wife is my absolute best friend. I have lost 5 friends in the last 10 years or so. Going through an experience right now with someone I thought was a decent friend. Lies, deceit, when not at all necessary, is causing me to lose trust in people. I can be somewhat naive at times, trying to see the good in folks. I’d known something was not right, but couldn’t put my finger on it until last week. Of the 5 friends I do have, 4 are 40+ year friends. And honestly, not in the market for any more after last week.
 

ugajay

Senior Member
I have a great friend who grew up in Saudi Arabia. Talk about different backgrounds. We met in 4th grade when he came to my school for a few months. I befriended him because I noticed most people ignored him. He came back for a year in high school and we were together all the time. He caught his first fish with me, killed his first deer with me, and it's never been like were anything but good friends. He now lives in Louisiana and I'm here in Georgia but I see him a couple times a year and it's like he never left.
 

zedex

Gator Bait
Going through an experience right now with someone I thought was a decent friend. .

I can relate to that. Went through it with someone not long ago.... one of those friendships where we talked multiple times a day on phone, constantly texting back and forth and she came by my place several times a week, then *poof*, it all ended. No idea what set it off..
 

Big7

The Oracle
Ive become somewhat of a loner. I have about 5 friends, true, good friends, and a million aqauintences.Life tends to get in the way of most friendships.my wife is my absolute best friend. I have lost 5 friends in the last 10 years or so. Going through an experience right now with someone I thought was a decent friend. Lies, deceit, when not at all necessary, is causing me to lose trust in people. I can be somewhat naive at times, trying to see the good in folks. I’d known something was not right, but couldn’t put my finger on it until last week. Of the 5 friends I do have, 4 are 40+ year friends. And honestly, not in the market for any more after last week.

I know what you mean.
My TRUE FRIENDS LIST IS SHORT.

Seem's like every time I let somebody in, I get shafted sooner or later. A lot of my "old" friends (near same age, not chronologically), some I've trained.. Some trained me.
Anyhooo... My occupation is a very, very small small group, very competitive, even in neighboring states. Lot of jealousy. Lot of smack talk. Lot of back- stabbing.

Most folks I'm either close to or WAS close to, came from work relationships.

I'm not really worried since retirement BUT a lot of resentment, on both sides.

Simple rules now:

NEVER LOAN LARGE SUMS OF MONEY !

Don't mess with a guy's sister, even if they introduced or encouraged the relationship.

Don't loan out expensive precision tools.
Or Guns.
Or Fishing Equipment.
Or Boats.
Or , or, or, etc.

Better that way. Speaking fir a friend.facepalm: :waggingfinger:
 

zedex

Gator Bait
One woman up here I was close friends with is the only one that flipped on me.
When she needed money, I gave it and never asked for it back. Her car broke, I'd fix and never charged anything. She lives in an apartment where laundry facilities are shared so I gave her my key and told her anytime she wanted, she can do laundry... no charge. Her adult kids would fight with her, she called me to come calm them down.
When I was out of town, she would escape her place and stay at mine.

Then, out of the clear blue, all the calls, all the texts just ended. No reason given.

Then she says I'm a white supremacist.... what???? She knows my daughter is half Chinese. She knows I'd been seeing a Filipino woman. She knows I've dated a number of Mexican, native indian, German and black women. But I'm a white supremacist?? I still have texts from her on my phone where she tells me she "loves me and dont ever change"

I learned one thing from that friendship.... I dont need anymore friends like that.
When I'm down there, I stay with most of the ladies of my past, the others are since married. A few days here, a few days there.

Myra is always my first stop. She is the one solid constant
 

greg_n_clayton

Senior Member
Real true friends are few and far between !! I am talking about the ones that will drop whatever they are doing, regardless of what, why and when...... with no questions asked !!
 

Batjack

Cap`n Jack 1313
Real true friends are few and far between !! I am talking about the ones that will drop whatever they are doing, regardless of what, why and when...... with no questions asked !!
I'm lucky enough to have three of those left. One three hours away, one any where from five to twelve hours out, and one just down the road...for now...his wife just inherited a house in West Virginia and he'll be at least five hours away once they move. Good thing I chose to be cremated...not enough friends left to tote me.
 

fireman32

"Useless Billy" Fire Chief.
Didn’t have many friends in high school. Of the 3 I grew up with, 2 have been in and out of jail for meth, marijuana and alcohol. The other has had 3 dui’s and still drinks. One of them, though, would be at my house in minutes if I called him, even though we might speak to each other only twice a year.
Since being grown I have a few close friends and many people I know. The wife and I aren’t overly social so we fit well together.
Lost my father in law last week to pancreatic cancer, he was the type of man and friend everyone should be lucky enough to have.
 
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