Friendships that you don't drop but wonder

[tangentgirl]

Super corny, but relevant old Girl Scout song:

Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver
And the other's gold.

Now, everyone, in rounds...

[limewave]

I have a friend that was like a sister to me in college. She got married right away and moved far away. I moved back home. We live thousands of miles a part.

I don't like talking on the phone, so I don't call. She doesn't have a computer at home, so she doesn't email. But I have written her letters over the last 10 years, maybe 2 to 3 a year. I never heard back from her. But I just kept writing, letting her know I was thinking of her and what was new in my life, etc. Sometimes I sent pictures of the kids.

Last week I got the mail and about fell over. There was a letter from my friend! She apologized for not writing over the years but wanted me to know how much each of my letters meant to her and how much she looked forward to them.

[Biciclista]

I had a friend that started from my childhood, when I moved away from our neighborhood she and I maintained a pen pal correspondence starting when I was 6. A few years back, her politics (anti muslim actually) was the last straw for me. I called her out on the carpet, and she sicced her older brother on me, a fanatical right wing type.He actually had the nerve to play throw up on things that happened when I was 4 years old and spewed enough invective to fry a chicken!!! (what bad thing did 4 year old me do? I had a potty accident at their house..)
It was bizarre and sad... thus the friendship ended.

[northstar]

I have a friend like that. We got each other through struggles in college, were really like sisters. Then we got jobs, started our lives, and drifted apart. And it is a little weird when we see each other, which is now maybe once, twice a year. It is what it is. While I'm sad that we aren't as close as we used to be, we were what we needed to be then, and are what we are now. No use trying to force ourselves back into the past.

[colby]

I definitely have friends that I've drifted in and out of touch with, that I've met in many different ways. When I look at some of the close friends I've met in my adult life and think of the possibility that we won't always be the best of friends as our lives change and we physically move or time just waxes and wanes, I just want to know in my heart that they are happy. I would like to be a part of that happiness, but knowing that I WAS a part of it means a lot, life finds a way of working these things out in the end.

I appreciate Facebook for its opportunity to revisit with some of my friends that I did lose contact with over time. I think of the friends I've had as a puzzle, except with different sized pieces. Some of them were around for a short time and might represent a small part of my life, some of them around much longer, but all must be there to see the big picture, or are missed when they are lost. Some of them have ragged edges, too, or might be one of those inside pieces that you have a heck of a time finding the place for.

I definitely have some friends that I feel guilty about not keeping up contact with that I miss, but it's hard to woulda coulda shoulda everything.

And, I now have "make new friends but keep the old" stuck in my head.

[jessmarimba]

ohhh boy. Here's a new one, please help!

So a few nights ago I was talking to a (male) friend that I was close to since middle school but haven't seen face-to-face in about 5 years. He's drunk, and proceeds to tell me that he wished he'd made a move on me back in high school, and that his life had turned out differently. He's been married for 6 years to someone we both went to high school with, and apparently they first started talking when they ended up in the same town for college and he wanted advice about me. Well it's no wonder she's hated me for years! But...what do I do with him now? I can't un-hear all of that! And neither can his wife! Why do people do stuff like this?

Bleh...thanks guys.

[badger]

testosterone and alcohol never mix well. I'd imagine if he remembers telling you that, he's going to be very embarrassed, and I would think the next time you talk will be very awkward.

I guess it depends how good friends you were/are, and if you're able to see past it. Feelings aren't mutual, are they?!?