Reged: 02/15/05
Posts: 1999
Loc: Northern Illinois, USA
I am an army brat and the longest I've lived continously is...4 years, 2 months, and about 1 week. (That would be where I live now.) Army brats aren't the best in keeping in touch with each other directly. Of some of the fellow army brats I went through one year of high school with, I only know what they're up to because my folks keep up with their folks; mostly Christmas letters and the like. But we were a very tight bunch for one cool year in the '80s.
There is one person from that year I still keep in touch with. In fact, she's the only person from three high schools that I'm in touch with. I was her maid of honor when she was married in 1991 and she was my matron of honor in 2004. She came from out of state, had a baby about 3 weeks before my wedding...and she was STILL there! She's the type of friend that you could not see for years but then be able to pick up again right where you left off. We have always had very different lives, but we keep in touch. We're not best friends, but I think of her as a TRUE friend nonetheless.
I haven't had a best friend in years. I had a best friend in college. I thought we would know each other always. We were so close we used to get each others' homework assignments confused and a few times, we introduced the other using our own name! But we lost contact a couple of years after graduation. I haven't seen or heard from her since 1998. I still miss her. She pops up in my dreams a couple of times a year. I finally put her on the shelf two years ago. I still had her folks' address, so I sent a wedding invitation. It didn't come back to me, but neither did a response card.
I don't know. In my experience, it's better to focus on the here-and-now and the potential for new friendships rather than dwell too much on the friendships that have fallen away due to distance or lack of communication.