Your Best Childhood Friend...

[azskyman]

Even those of us who are still teenagers have memories of childhood friends that stay with us through the years.

My best childhood friend lived next door. His name was Brian. We would play for hours with our Plasticville town and Dinky Toy cars and trucks. In fact, over the course of one summer we did almost nothing except that.

Brian lives back in my hometown. My last conversation with him was about three years ago when his dad passed away. I need to stop and see him when I go back to Illinois.

What recollections do you have of your best childhood friend, what did you used to do together during that most memorable summer, and have you seen or heard from him or her in the last few years?

[vbhoutex]

Interesting topic Steve. It made me think for a while. I really do not have a childhood friend who I would call my best friend. I had a lot of friends, but no one sticks out in particular as my best friend. I do have wonderful memories of my early childhood in Gulf Breeze, FL though. Truly an almost idyllic existence in a small bedroom community with virtually no crime. We never locked our doors. Even as a 5 year old I was roaming far and wide from my home without worrying about much of anything except maybe the snakes in the woods that could be a problem. The last time I saw or talked to anyone from that neighborhood/city was 15 years ago at my 20 yr. class reunion.

[Miss Mary]

I had two close friends growing up. Debbie lived across the street and she was my 'summer friend' - we went to different HS's so thru the school year we'd go our separate ways. Odd that each of us never minded that arrangement, come to think of it now! Anyway, we played Monopoly all summer long. On a small table my dad had made me as a child, even though by this time I was 10-12, we still sat at this kiddie table! We agreed, one of us would have rights to Boardwalk/Park Place and the other, the 3 green properties (can't quite remember their names w/o cheating!). When I tried playing this way with my kids, saying now Debbie had rights to these properties and I had rights to these, they both said - MOM! What planet were you living on? That's not how you play the game!!!! I kept in touch with Debbie for a few years after HS but then lost touch. I've oftened wondered about her. My dad sold our family home but her mom still lives in their family home. Her mom sat outside on the front porch in good wx just about every day. I should drive by sometime and see if she's still sitting out there knitting, reading the paper......now there's a thought.

My other good friend was Jan. We went off to HS together and had lots of fun together. Mostly HS stuff - driving by various boys houses. We decided to suddenly jump ship with the all-boys school our all-girls school 'supported' at games/dances. We thought those boys were stuck-up. So here we were at another boys school, but actually the primo one in Cincinnati (lots of doctors and lawyers come out of that HS!), and we didn't know anyone! Somehow we managed to have huge crushes on 2 boys out of a big group we met. We'd always say later and at reunions, remember Bob and Dave? They were the boys we wanted to date but never really did date. You know how that goes. Our dream guys!!!! Funny thing is years later I dated and then married a graduate from this HS - Jim. So it was a real treat for me going back to his HS reunions and walking the halls of that school, remembering the times Jan and I went to dances and games there.

Mary

[TexasStooge]

One of my best friends I have since the 6th Grade is Jason Duncan, he was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy and had to be placed in a wheelchair, and couldn't really speak well, however he could say "Hi" and other few words. Everyday I would help him to his classes up until the 9th grade, that time I was in a completely different school zone than him. Nowadays I would make weekly visits to his house.

Another friend of mine I knew back in the mid 1990s is Evan Bringas, a son of a now retired apartment manager my mom knew back in the 1980s. He would visit me every summer and we get to play some games, go swimming, etc.

[hunter84]

Good topic Steve.
I've had my best friend since 1st grade he lived about a mile from me. But we hung out together all the time. Building forts in the woods. Riding bikes all over town when we got a little older.
We still talk on the phone at least once a week. He lives about 3 hours away. But get together several times a year for hunting and golf. I still consider him my best friend.

[streetsoldier]

Sorry to disappoint again, folks; I didn't have "friends" until after high school...military, police, then branched out into academia/fraternal contacts.

It took me a long time, and I still don't feel that I have successfully "mainstreamed".

[Lindaloo]

I have 3, but one was killed when we were 17. The other two are still my friends today and we are as close as ever.

[ColdFront77]

.....the 3 green properties (can't quite remember their names w/o cheating!)...

Those three green properties are Pacific Avenue, North Carolina Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue.

I (We) have Monopoly, but my mother doesn't like it and my father doesn't play any board games with either of us.

[sunnyday]

My best childhood friend and my best friend now share the same first name! And, it's similar to mine.

[JCT777]

I had friend named Ralph throughout most of grade school and high school who I have not seen in nearly 14 years. We kind of drifted apart. But I considered him my best friend for about 9 years.