Do you stay in touch with HS friends?

[niccig]

The alcohol in water bottles got me thinking about high school. I stay in touch with two friends, everyone else I didn't care for then, so no reason to be "friends" on facebook now.

My highschool was a surfer school. If surf was up, a lot of kids weren't there. The "in" crowed were mean and hated by everyone else. They thought they were so cool, and everyone was laughing at them. Not everyone went on to college - it wasn't an academic school. A couple of student who gave the teachers HELL, became teachers. I thought that was karmic justice.

I'm more in touch with college friends and friend post-college.

[ahisma]

I'm in close touch with a handful, casual contact (facebook) with more. I don't have contact with anyone who I didn't / don't care for...life is too short for that!

Mainly, I'm in contact with people from the student environmental group. We all seem to have gardens now and focus a lot on local food, it's a great group to bounce questions off of.

[GoBlue]

Nope....I am friends with a few people on facebook, but I really havent maintained HS friendships at all. I have a few childhood friendss, but our social circle has evolved to focus mainly on other parents from day care. You know-- we're in the trenches together.

[hellokitty]

Not until recently. I really have no interest in high school friends, except that one of them was my college roommate, and I recently, "found" her on facebook (I use a different name on facebook, so HS ppl can't find me, it's a nn I got in college, so only my friends in college would know it). However, I count her as more of a college friend, than high school friend, since we didn't know one another that well in high school, I was actually friends with her sister back then. Anyway, that is the only friend from high school that I KIT with. I pretty much have no desire to catch up with any high school friends.

[twowhat?]

Yes. But I went to a boarding magnet-type of high school where everyone lived together in a dorm. So we forged some really strong friendships. My friends are almost like brothers and sisters to me.

[Melaine]

I keep track of the people I was actually close to on facebook, but I am only still truly close to one of them.

[JoyNChrist]

Quite a few, but Facebook came out right after I graduated hs (in 2004), so it's been easy to keep in touch. I only have a handful of hs friends that I actually spend time with anymore, even though I still live in the same town where I grew up.

[lalasmama]

Only 1: she's been one of my closest friends since we met the summer before my sophomore year. However, the closeness waxed and waned through high school, and at the end of HS, we weren't close. She had gotten in with a different crowd. (Now, she's back to being my BFF#2.).... However, I keep in touch with 2 friends from middle school (my BFF who I call my sister, and my very first boyfriend that I held hands with--awwwww). At the end of high school/late adolescence, I had moved a bit faster than another close friend. I started dating, drinking, smoking, and, more or less, just not the "kid" I was before. She and I had never really been rebels, and once I graduated and moved in with my dad and brother, well.... we'll just say it was kind of like she was taking late adolescence/early adulthood at a leasurely pace, and I was flying like a bat outta hell. During all this, she and I became very different people. I've thought about messaging her on Facebook and apologizing for talking to her/treating her like I did (I told her back then that she was way too babyish)... but at the same time, I'm not ready to open that can of worms.

So, the original question/answer would be: "I stay in contact with 1 friend from HS, and a few early childhood friends."

[kijip]

Many of my friends, including my nearest and dearest friend, I have known since high school but we did not go to the same schools, we knew each other through outside activities. I have only 5 people from my high school that I stay in regular, IRL touch with. 1 is a teacher who I have become good friends with. He was a very valuable mentor to me throughout my school years. The other 4 are peers. I see the 3 who are local pretty often, 1 for skating and lunch, one for lunch and the other for dinners and couple get togethers, as we really like her fiancé. 1 of them hosts a drunken spelling bee which we will go to when we can because J wins and we get our tab paid with his winnings. :jammin: the 4th lives far away but she is near and dear to my heart and we get together when we can. She is the sort of person I will write an actual letter to and vice versa.

I am FB friends with any school people that have found me online but I don't have any meaningful contact with them. I have been invited on trips and the like with them but it is just not my thing. Mostly we are connected through a fundraising page for our school.

[kara97210]

Yes. But I went to a boarding magnet-type of high school where everyone lived together in a dorm. So we forged some really strong friendships. My friends are almost like brothers and sisters to me.

This is like DH, he went to boarding school from a fairly young age and forged some very strong friendships there. I have just one close friend from high school. I just missed a reunion of my class, which made me sad, I would have liked to reconnect with some people.

[justlearning]

I haven't kept in contact with any friends from high school, and I don't use facebook. But I did see a picture of my closest h.s. friend on national news shows recently when they were discussing his involvement in a political scandal!

[JoyNChrist]

This is like DH, he went to boarding school from a fairly young age and forged some very strong friendships there. I have just one close friend from high school. I just missed a reunion of my class, which made me sad, I would have liked to reconnect with some people.

My DH didn't go to boarding school, but he went to a VERY small rural school (graduated in a class of 17...I think the whole PreK-12 is under 200 kids) and is still close to most of the people he graduated with (talks on the phone with them frequently, remembers their birthdays, knows their spouses' and kids' names, etc).

[ellies mom]

I graduated from high school in the pre-internet days, let alone e-mail and FB. So combine that with a cross-country move and a few shorter ones and well, I lost touch with a lot of high school friends I would have liked to have stayed in contact with. I did keep in touch with a handful of my closest friends. Being able to renew friendships is one reason why I love FB. It has been a lot of fun to get back in touch with old friends. And I love to be in easy touch with my extended family that lives on the East Coast. Yes, a few high school people have put in requests that kind of surprised me but I usually accept them because sometimes it has been interesting to get to know them as adults and sometimes I've been able to find other friends through them.

[essnce629]

Yes, I had a group of 8 friends in high school and we are all still extremely close and still best friends. 6 out of 8 of us have kids now, which has brought us all even closer. We see each other every month or so for one of the kids' birthday parties or to just get together. We have 9 kids between us now and it's so chaotic but so fun when we are all together. I know what we have is so special and I'm so grateful to have such a close group of friends. 6 of them are in San Diego while I'm in LA so I don't get to see them as often as I'd like. Our 8th friend is in San Francisco and she doesn't have kids, so we see her the least.

[MontrealMum]

Until the advent of FB I really only kept in touch with 2 h/s friends from my own school, though originally that number had been more like 8. We just lost touch over the years. Now, I'm FB friends with about 50 of the 54 people I graduated with, and quite a few in the years above and below me. I went to a super small school so the friendships we forged were very close and I always regretted losing touch with so many of them (I'm a terrible letter writer!) We were also very united as students at the first and only G&T school in our city, having been labelled as nerds by everyone else. My FB friendships aren't super close, by definition, but I am very happy to hear what my h/s friends are doing and I've even been able to meet up with some of them that live nearby.

[mjs64]

It's so hard to avoid reconnecting over FB! Not that I don't always want to--sometimes I do--but I'm frequently getting friend requests from people I went to HS with that I HAD forgotten and would rather it stay that way. But I feel badly not accepting their request, and then I am subject to all of their notifications. Really, I'm not a big fan of FB. The few friends that I've kept in touch with from HS I would have regardless of social media.

[lalasmama]

It's so hard to avoid reconnecting over FB! Not that I don't always want to--sometimes I do--but I'm frequently getting friend requests from people I went to HS with that I HAD forgotten and would rather it stay that way. But I feel badly not accepting their request, and then I am subject to all of their notifications. Really, I'm not a big fan of FB. The few friends that I've kept in touch with from HS I would have regardless of social media.

I had that issue for a while, as well. It was very annoying when I would get a friend request from someone I wasn't "friends" with back then. I feel bad for ignoring their request, but I feel equally bad for friending them and letting them think I actually care about being their FB friend.

[BeachBum]

I live in the town I grew up in. So not only do I talk to some of the people I went to HS with I actually hang out with them and see them on a regular basis.


As for facebook, I really enjoy being "friends" with those totally random people (and wish I hadn't been so choosy originally). People post some crazy stuff-- it's like my own personal soap opera. My "real" friends don't post much and it's pretty boring (oh another vacation?, your child won yadda yadda).
I particularly enjoy FB for new friends. For example I met someone nice at the park, we enjoyed chatting etc. Then she friended me...now we have had an opportunity to talk more and have set up a playdate. If we didn't have facebook I likely wouldn't have seen her again.

[MoJo]

Only through FB.

HS was hard for me socially; college was wonderful. And to this day, I just don't have much in common with most of my HS "friends" but have LOTS in common with my college friends, even though both my HS and college were large public schools in similar-sized towns only 45 minutes from each other.

I lost touch with my closest HS friend when we graduated, and she hasn't shown up on FB or at our 20-year reunion this past summer.

I skipped the HS reunion but am hoping to attend the third-annual college reunion at Homecoming next month.

[veronica]

Yes! About 15+. Our schools had gotten crowded when I was a kid so the solution was to put all the gifted and talented kids in a fire hall for three years. Plus, it's a small town and we had been in the same classes for so many years. Now that DH and I are back in hour town, it's like things have not changed.

eta: I'm not on facebook or twitter at all. I still swap birthday cards with one particular childhood friend through the mail every year!

[amldaley]

I am really lucky. My graduating class was not huge. While we had cliques and groups, for the most part, we all got along. I am friends with maybe 30 or 40 of them on FB and we had just over 100 in my class.

We sort of hit this stage where we can see each other for who and what we are. We have made new friendships via FB. We have strengthened old ones. We just got over all the BS and we get along. Those who don't want to play nice, I don't bother with. But getting reacquainted with some of them has been very rewarding for me.

I think part of the difference is that I moved away, too. I live 3000 miles away, so it is not like I am running in to anyone in the grocery store or getting together once a year for lunch or coffee with them, etc.

[maestramommy]

I am in touch with a couple of HS BFFs via FB. My HS was ginormous, but I made a few very close friends through orchestra. We lost touch, then reconnected on FB. It's been great. One of them has kids the same age as mine, and even though he's a guy we share some of the same angst and war stories:p

[TwinFoxes]

I'm definitely more in touch with college friends. I'm only in touch with one HS friend. We were very good friends, she was in my wedding. She's in touch with a few other HS friends, and I've turned down friend requests from some of them. It's not even that I don't like them, or didn't like them then (I actually enjoyed HS), I just can't be bothered. I'm not even especially picky about FB friends. I just really don't care what people are up to, which sounds kind of bitchy but true. There's probably one person I'd like to connect with, but he's not on FB.

Oops, take that back, I'm in touch with two people. I forgot I hide one friend. We were quite good friends, but she was always a drama queen. She still is. It's not entertaining any more. Now it's just sad.

[KHF]

I'm only in touch via FB with one high school friend now (and she was a college roommate for a year as well, so not strictly HS). I did have other FB friends from high school, but I deleted them during my last friend purge. I didn't ever hear from them directly, and honestly, I just like to keep FB to people I actually know and interact with on a regular basis.

[SASM]

Nope. Not one. I am glad to read that I am not the only one. I was srarting to fee like a freak for not keeping touch. Some close college friends have very close ties with HS friends. I currently live in a smallish city where there are a lot of high school connections. I think it is all about where you live. If you settle back home, you are most likely reman close. It is just foreign to me...I have no desire to reconnect. Too many close good friends now. :)

[AngelaS]

My graduating class was about 60 people and some of my friends are people I've known since kindergarten. Part of us when to the same college as well. I'm in touch with a lot of people I've known since high school and a handful are among my closest friends.

[Cam&Clay]

Most definitely. My closest friend is from high school. I have a few more that are good friends, and I keep in touch with many on FB.

I supposed I should count DH also. We have obviously kept in touch over the years!

[klwa]

Yes. But I went to a boarding magnet-type of high school where everyone lived together in a dorm. So we forged some really strong friendships. My friends are almost like brothers and sisters to me.

:yeahthat:

At least for my junior & senior years, that's true. As for my friends from my "home" high school, I'm friends with quite a few on Facebook, but don't keep up with anyone outside of that. Except for the few who run in my brothers' circles, since both of them moved back home after college.

[Twoboos]

I am with two sets. One set I hung out with more in college, even though we went to HS together (and we didn't go to the same college). One set is more married-early-has-older-kids-now, like a 10+yr age difference b/t our kids. I am also friends w/a lot of people on FB but some of those are "any why did I friend you?" people.

I am not in touch w/ any of my friends from college. Only one I am friends w/on FB but when I try to email her to talk more, I get no response. Weird.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have a few on FB but I really only stay in touch with my closest friend from since we were 3. We've gone through phases of not being in touch but now that she just had her first baby we are more in touch than ever. Most everyone I was friends with moved away.

Beth

[brittone2]

Yes, with 2 or 3 of my friends. A high school friend is getting married in a few weeks and I'm really excited to see a few friends that I already stay in touch with there.

[lizzywednesday]

Yes, I'm still in touch with my high school buddies.

I've stayed good friends with only one of the people I used to hang out with since high school, but reconnected with a lot of the other people when our choral director passed away suddenly in 2009.

It's been nice keeping up with the choral music folks and learning what they've been doing since we last spoke at graduation, though I wouldn't have considered them "friends" ... they're more acquaintances, but they're still people I liked very much in high school and still like very much today.

[TxCat]

Actually, yes. I'm still in pretty regular contact with two of my best friends from high school, and in Facebook contact (messages, wall posts) with several other high school friends. I'm mostly in touch with friends from high school and grad school on Facebook. I'm barely in touch with any friends from college.

[buddyleebaby]

Yes, I do. My closest friends in High School stayed close. We don't talk to each other every day like we did back then, or see each other nearly as often, but they're always there. :grouphug:

[crayonblue]

Yes, through Facebook! Sooooo glad we have FB. My best friend in high school was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Not sure I would have known without a status update.

I studied my way through HS which doesn't equate to being popular...and I was poor. I had a fabulous group of friends and we all keep in touch via FB. They are all still in TX so I rarely see them but I know they see each other.

[BabyBearsMom]

As far as closely in touch, I have one friend from HS who I e-mail with weekly and see several times a year. I am FB friends with most of my HS graduating class. I don't actively dislike anyone from HS and it is nice seeing what people are up to now. I have ignored a few HS friend requests from kids who were on a bad path in HS and don't seem to have turned that around. I do limit the access of the HS people on my facebook.

Oh wait! I forgot! I went to HS with my DH, so I am in touch with 2 friends from HS :ROTFLMAO:

[pinay]

I actually just came back from a high school friend's wedding- there's a group of 5 of us that are/have been BFFs since HS, plus several other people who float in and out of the group. We don't see each other that often, but when we're together it's like time has stood still and we're still as close as we were 25 years ago.

[mommylamb]

I probably have 25 or so HS people on my FB. Some of which I was close to in HS, and others are people I was acquaintances with, but who friended me and I thought, what the heck. Some of my HS friends I correspond with regularly now on FB (the ones I was actually good friends with at the time, primarily, though I've become more friendly now with some of the others, oddly). As for talking on the phone and seeing, I have one very close friend from HS who I keep in touch with outside of FB. But she lives far away from me, so we don't see each other often.

[BayGirl2]

Yes. The people I was close with reconnected on FB a couple years ago. I've moved a lot and live across the country but it was really good to hear how they are, get updates on their lives, and know they are just an email away.

About 6 months ago someone from my class of ~200 people started a FB page in preparation for our 20 year reunion. I'm on that page, although not "friends" with all the people there, so its a great way to reconnect with people I was not so close with, without actually "friending" them. Most of the people have moved on beyond HS and are able to catch up as adults, having let go of all the baggage and resentments from HS. One guy got on and started a whole resentment thread and people pretty much pushed back against him (in a good way) until he left. He was not able to stir up that stupid HS stuff, others had let it go.

A couple months ago one of our very much liked classmates committed suicide. The FB group allowed us to find out and communicate about him and other classmates who had passed. We ended up chipping in and planting a tree w/ a plaque as a memorial to those who were gone from our class. The local people held a dedication service with those classmates families, those of us far away got to see the pictures and hear about it. It was really comforting to me, and I was glad to be up to date on the news.

I've reconnected with college classmates too, but one person I was very close with passed away about 6 months before and I did not hear. Had I known I probably would have attended her service and shared with my other college classmates about it. Instead I felt like I missed the grieving and had to deal with it later, on my own.

My general philosophy in life is that everyone has something to offer and the more people you are connected with the better off your life will be. You won't be close with everyone, and each relationship will be a bit different, but your life will be richer in the long run.

[mackmama]

We had a very close-knit group in high school. I've mostly been much closer to my friends from high school than college.

[lilycat88]

Also went to boarding school and keep in touch with many. Facebook is wonderful since so many of my classmates live all over the country and abroad. It makes it easier to keep in touch.

[karstmama]

yes! i went to a boarding public school jr & sr years - we were all very close and have reunions every year with next month being 25 years. i'm really excited about it! i'm way closer to them than anyone from college.

[jk3]

Yes. I am still in touch with about half of my close friends and I have tons of acquaintances from HS that I run into frequently.