Still close to high school friends?

[wryness]

I have a core group of friends from high school that I have remained really good friends with, about six or seven people. We still get together a couple of times each year at the least (usually during summer/winter breaks) and though the gatherings have changed somewhat---most of my friends are married now, and several have children--they're still fun and enjoyable. Our still being close is aided by the fact that most of these friends have remained in Utah thus far, but I don't think that accounts for all of it. My parents are quite surprised that my friends and I have managed to stay this close--they certainly don't have that much contact with their high school buddies anymore, and I don't think my siblings have stayed as close to theirs, either.

Have you maintained good connections with friends you made when you were young, and if so, why do you think that is? I think technology (e.g., cell phones and Facebook) helps a lot, and I think my friends' still living in the same state also helps, but I don't think that accounts for all of it.

[C is for]

Yeah, nope. I was about the only one of my friends that didn't go to our local university, so they spent freshman year hanging out all the time still while I was far away. So they basically...stopped being my friends.

And after I moved back home after college most of them were married, so they had married-people parties and still didn't invite me.

I am always impressed at friend groups that can remain close after high school, but I don't feel too bad that I wasn't in one of them. (Apparently the rest of my friends are, but that's beside the point.)

[Portia]

Our high school has official get-togethers but the ones I was closest to don't show. We don't hang out anymore. We all went to different universities and live in different states now.

[Tally M.]

I still stay in touch with someone I'd consider my best friend from high school, but since I never had a core group of friends...

The closest I had to a core group still hangs out, but that's cause they all go to school in the same area. And it'd be difficult for me to join them if ever since my parents moved away from my hometown.

[Emiliana]

I really didn't have a "group" at all in high school -- a lot of the people I was close to didn't like each other all that much, and I didn't necessarily get along with the rest of their respective friend groups, either. But now that I'm back living an hour or so from where I grew up, I'm back in semi-regular contact with a few people. One is actually in my wedding (and I was in hers last month), and a couple of others will be there.

[Random]

The mainest of reasons that I don't hang out with my high school friends nearly as much as I'd like is because I can't drive... It kinda messes with my plans. And a lot of my high school friends are still in high school, so that can mess plans up too, since their parents get the final say in most of our plans. I'm still really good friends with some of the ones who graduated, but we mostly hang out when we're at school together, since a bunch of my friends go to UVU with me.

The group I had was essentially the entire theater program, so it would be kind of insanely awesome if we ever had a get together and we all showed up.

[krebscout]

It seems that all roads lead to LA, so I've actually been fortunate to see most of my close high school/college friends at some point or another since I've moved here. My best friend from high school, as I've said before, is in the Lumineers, so he comes through often to play shows and I get to see him a couple of times a year. One of my other best high school friends goes to UCSB, so she's come down to visit. And everybody else has wandered through for conferences or Disneyland or something or other. It's been nice. But excepting one college friend who now goes to UCLA, I don't live close enough to anyone for it to be a regular thing.

I think I got closer to my estranged high school group after college.

[Portia]

My best friend from high school, as I've said before, is in the Lumineers

gahhhhhhhhh :)

[UffishThought]

I didn't have a group in high school either. I was mediocre friends with a few people, and that's nearly completely died. And I'm still decent friends with my best friend from high school, although I moved out-of-state and she didn't. But we still chat online sometimes and nearly always get together a few times when I come home for Christmas.

[bobtheenchantedone]

I semi keep in touch with several people from high school/my two years of college/my Disney internship, but only through Facebook. Meeting up with them in person just makes it painfully obvious how much of a different person I have become.

[Whistler]

I still keep in touch with some of my high school friends, although we don't really get together much anymore. They've all graduated from college and are either doing more school or having grown-up jobs. I keep up with FB and blogs, but I haven't gotten together with any of them for at least a year or two, partially since my visits home are much shorter now that I'm married and my husband doesn't get weeks and weeks off from work.

[Katya]

I'm fb friends with a few people from high school, but I didn't really have any close high school friends. I had one close friend in elementary school and middle school, but she went to a different high school and we had a bit of a falling out during college. I think we'd be on friendly terms now if she was active on social media, but she's not. (I'm fb friends with her mom, though!)

[mic0]

I was just in my hometown this last week and before going I was thinking about this topic. I'm only close to one of my high school friends - we talk multiple times a year. That's it. I ended up visiting one girl from my high school class while I was in TX, and it was nice. We talk on FB now and then, which is more often than any other person I went to high school with. I just wasn't terribly close to people (besides boys I dated) in high school, and I didn't get any closer to them after leaving. The main people from my hometown that I visited were older people from the ward. Go figure.

[Violet]

Just one, but we were elementary school friends before we were high school friends. We have lunch every couple months and have a twice-yearly shopping tradition for our birthdays and Christmas. I think the strong relationship we had before is the only reason we've stayed friends. When you've known each other longer as long as we have—not to mention how close we were due to similarity and shared experience—I want to make time for them.

With the others, I try to stay caught up via social media, but much beyond that just doesn't happen. The close relationships weren't there to start, so it's hard to have something there now.

[Portia]

Oh, I'm still extremely close to my best friend from when we were 3. We just went sailing a couple days ago, and graduated BYU the same time. But we didn't go to high school together: he lived in Sun Valley at that point.

[Imogen]

I'm still close to a lot of people from high school, and a bunch of us got together last night to celebrate a wedding. Lots of good memories to be shared and lots of love flying around.

[SmurfBlueSnuggie]

I had a pretty decent group. And the girl I've stayed in best contact with was class president. And I was NHS president. So I think that means we should be in charge of our 5 year reunion. Which should be happening sometime soon. But she hasn't gotten back to me. And I'm not about to arrange that by myself. So.... yeah. We didn't stay close at all. And unless I can get the ball rolling, there won't be much of an excuse to get together again.

Also, side note, the reunion really would be the best way to get the group back together since the group I ran with comprised about 75% of our graduating class. I think 52 of us walked that year?

[Emiliana]

I had a pretty decent group. And the girl I've stayed in best contact with was class president. And I was NHS president. So I think that means we should be in charge of our 5 year reunion. Which should be happening sometime soon. But she hasn't gotten back to me. And I'm not about to arrange that by myself. So.... yeah. We didn't stay close at all. And unless I can get the ball rolling, there won't be much of an excuse to get together again.

Also, side note, the reunion really would be the best way to get the group back together since the group I ran with comprised about 75% of our graduating class. I think 52 of us walked that year?

5 year reunion? Is that a thing?

[Emiliana]

Also, my graduating class was about 450.

[SmurfBlueSnuggie]

Also, my graduating class was about 450.

Yeah... my high school didn't have that many students in all four grades combined.

And 5 year reunions might not be as big a deal as 10 year or whatever. But since it is such a small class, I thought it would be fun to have. And easier, considering how many of us are still in town. It's still not easy enough for me to decide to put it together on my own, though.