by Dan H.
Member since:
August 9, 2007

Keeping Up With Friends?

December 04, 2008 07:15 PM EST
views: 101 | rating: 9.5/10 (19 votes) | comments: 30

Chances are that you and I do not know each other very well. We may know a few aspects of each other's lives, but do we talk on a regular basis? Looking back, I feel that my life has changed a bit since I entered medical school. My "friends" were simply my classmates, and I've grown apart from most other people. For example, CA is still "home" for me and yet when I go back there in 2 weeks for the holidays, I doubt that there will be many "friends" that I'll see. I can't exactly explain why things have turned out this way. I know that I should put in more of an effort into keeping up with people.


How about you? Quite simply, how're you? Up for chatting?

link to this page
Bookmark this post:
Facebook
Twitter
Delicious
Buzz
More

Comments: 30

Dan H. Dec 4, 2008, 7:15pm EST
Thank You For Posting To:
http://friendsofdanh.gather.com.
Our goal is to help you further your exposure and to support other gather members.

Please Don’t Forget To RATE The Post.
Robert M Dec 4, 2008, 7:18pm EST
It is hard to keep up with old friends, most people only keep in touch with one or two friends from high school.
Claudia B. Dec 4, 2008, 7:21pm EST
I think in some ways by using emails I have more contact with acquaintances and newish friends but a lot of old friends have disappeared. I just found about zabasearch from Linda T. here and have found an old friend I miss.
Erica Cudeyro Dec 4, 2008, 7:21pm EST
I think that happens to everyone. I just was looking online for old friends from school and found that I could hardly remember their names. It continues to happen throughout your life. You get new friends in college, but get out in the real word and lose them and get new ones, just to lose them when you have children. Friends tend to change when your priorities or lifestyle changes.
Angela A. Dec 4, 2008, 7:23pm EST
I don't have time to keep up with my friends, either these days.
School, for my kids, takes up most of my days.
My son Chris, who's in second grade, has homework every day.
Then, of course, there's chores, writing, reading novels, and so on.
APE 131313 Dec 4, 2008, 7:24pm EST
Make new friends but keep the old.
One is silver....... the other gold!
From MY grandmother a LONG time ago!
Betty W. Dec 4, 2008, 7:38pm EST
I have one friend from high school that I really keep in touch with. Although these days its more email and text messaging than getting together. My best friend is a lady I met 6 years ago, and we talk every other day, and see each other once every 2 weeks. It used to be more often until I started taking care of my mother inlaw 4 years ago. I have several friends I email, text regulary, and my husband is the only one I see everyday.
Elizabeth V. Dec 4, 2008, 8:01pm EST
Well, Dan, it's part of getting older. People tend, even if they stay living in the same state, to grow separate lives from their old chums.

My father is an exception to the rule. He has stayed very close to four old high school chums and stays in contact with about five more. They all grew up on the east side of Detroit, went to the same parochial all-boys school, and never left southeastern Michigan for longer than a year, except one who became a Catholic Brother.

We normal people grow away from old chums and make new ones.
Jennifer W. Dec 4, 2008, 8:03pm EST
Well I keep up with some high school friends through myspace. I graduated in Germany and we were the last graduating class in the school with only about 50 kids. I moved around so much that I more than likely have friends in every state.
Joe T. Dec 4, 2008, 8:03pm EST
Life has a way of separating us from old friendships. I agree with Elizabeth. I keep in contact with an old friend from high school, but I think that it is rare.

How is medical school treating you?
elaine laflamme Dec 4, 2008, 8:04pm EST
A couple months ago,I got a message on myspace from an old school friend that I have not seen since 1981 . If she was still in Illinois,went I went ?home? a few years ago,I would have felt more at home . It felt like the years apart weren't as long,while we were talking . People drift apart too easy and that is a part of who we are. Sad isn't it?
Kassie S. Dec 4, 2008, 8:08pm EST
I love to chat. I talk on the phone at great lengths when the snow is deep to get out and visit.
Debra H. Dec 4, 2008, 8:30pm EST
Lives change, folks drift apart making room for new friends to drift in.

Thanks for posting to Whatever Floats Your Boat
Netty B. Dec 4, 2008, 8:36pm EST
I make new friends all of the time
Jeanette(Nettie) R. Dec 4, 2008, 8:58pm EST
Life is full of changes and making new friends & suddenly realizing that the old ones have somehow slipped away, is all part of that change. They may be gone but not forgotten. Look them up, see if there you still have anything in common. If not you still have all those fond memories. And meeting new people, we're making new memories all the time. I like to think I can be nostalgic and move forward at the same time. It's been fun meeting you & others here on gather. The web has really allowed us to reach out & touch someone so keep going forward Dan & don't forget to look back!(you're a very insightful person. I enjoy popping in & seeing what you're up too)
Beth - Doing God's work Daily J. Dec 4, 2008, 9:00pm EST
Thanks for posting on Getting to 3000 Together... Helping one another reach their goals
Beth - Doing God's work Daily J. Dec 4, 2008, 10:08pm EST
I don't see many people from my past anymore.
Aimee "I Love Points" K. Dec 4, 2008, 11:29pm EST
It is hard to keep up....
David V. Dec 5, 2008, 2:18am EST
I still keep in touch with some friends back home. Mainly one particular woman.
I do miss my old compadres but life changes life.
There is one dude that I was really tight with in Dorchester MA and I have searched for him for years but to no avail. Maybe someday.
Elizabeth O. Dec 5, 2008, 8:11am EST
Its tough keeping in touch with people. We all have busy lives, same stuff, just different details. They say you can never go home. I never believed that until a number of years ago, I had to go home to care for my elderly ill parents. I was with them for a couple of months. I would take my dad downtown to do his errands. It was really strange. None of the stores had the same businesses in them. When I was a child, not only could I name who lived in every house in town, I was related to 90% of them, now I only know perhaps 1 or 2. It was very surreal to me, and it was not pleasant. I left when I was 17 to pursue my education and I miss my home terribly, and its been many years.

Have a great vacation at home, try not to get too bummed because time has passed there, too.
Thomas Millington Dec 5, 2008, 9:19am EST
Dan: I love communicating with you.
Tanzanite S. Dec 5, 2008, 3:21pm EST
Having spent a lot of time outside the country for the past several years and quitting work before that, I have lost contact with just about everyone. People move away, some die, businesses cease to exist and lives just move in different directions and apart.
Janell R. Dec 6, 2008, 2:25am EST
I've grown apart from most of my "friends" so I can appreciate this. It definitely takes a lot of effort to stay in touch.
Beth G. Dec 6, 2008, 11:39pm EST
Hi Dan, I think its a part of life,people simply grow apart
Allison R. Dec 10, 2008, 2:47pm EST
The only "friends" that I associate besides my mother and my fiance (and a few other family members...) are people from work that I hang out with on occasion that I have only known for a couple of years. Everyone else from the past are people I talk to on the phone, email, or facebook, etc. and rarely, if ever, actually see. Many have scattered across the country.
Kinda sad to think of the good times and miss those people, but you can't dwell on that -- have to nip it and get some new friends to go crazy with -- except now that we are all "growed" up, it has to be when schedules allow. ; )
--Alli wuz here--- (Clickin' like mad and leavin' a few comments) Thanks for posting!
Kimber L. Dec 18, 2008, 12:23pm EST
i have kept up with a lot of old friends. Some of us have grown apart but I still hang out with people I have known since I was 11 years old. Even colleges in separate states didn't separate us! LOL
Heather J. Dec 26, 2008, 2:11pm EST
Good morning hon.
Marsha S. Feb 23, 2009, 5:25pm EST
Just letting you know your content has reached 25 comments and has therefore been removed from ~3,000 Here We Come!~
Ankica S. Mar 2, 2009, 8:55am EST
I love comment of Debra H. posted on Dec 4, 2008, 8:30pm EST
"Lives change, folks drift apart making room for new friends to drift in."

Join the Conversation
Chime in! Become a Gather member to comment.
Already a member? Sign in
top
 
Gather | Friends | Groups | Share
About Gather | Engagement Marketing | Make New Friends | Gather Points | Advertise on Gather | Gather Press | Privacy | Terms of Service | Community Guidelines
Books | Celebs | Entertainment | Family | Food | Health | Moms | Money | News | Politics | Spirituality | Sports | Travel | Writing
Version 16836, "Oz"; Copyright © 2009 Gather Inc. All rights reserved.