Old Friends

Who is your oldest friend? How long have you been friends with this person? I actually have 2 people who tie for my oldest friend, and the friendships with them go back to middle school. 6th grade actually. I don't think I have any friends from elementary school that I am still in contact with. And even these friends I don't always see very often or even talk to a lot, but I definitely still consider them my friends. Sometimes I'm surprised that my oldest friendships don't go back farther, and othertimes I'm amazed and very happy that I am still friends with people that I met when I started middle school. I've been thinking about this because I just saw one of them this weekend for my sister-in-law's baby shower. (It's weird, because I have 2 friends who are also friends with some of my siblings because they all went to college together. It's a funny connection, and I actually think it's helped me keep in contact with them in some ways. It's not the same 2 friends, one is a middle school friend and one is a high school friend.) We've actually been able to hang out more in the past 6 months than we have in the past 6 years due to weddings and showers and her moving back to the cities for med school stuff. It's been really great seeing her more often. I often find that having a history as friends means that when you get together, the conversation is still easy and you know enough about the other person that it just feels normal and comfortable.