Comments | neverdoubt: Teenage dork fest

neverdoubt

Teenage dork fest

Jan 10, 2004 16:49

My mom saw one of my junior high friends the other day. She asked for my e-mail address, my mom gave it to her, and I just got an e-mail from her this afternoon. This is a person I grew up with. We were very close in the fifth through eighth grades, but we lost touch over the years ( Read more... )

Comments 6

one is silver and the other iron pyrite. madprophet January 11 2004, 08:08:43 UTC

I can relate. A few years back, in my early college days (oh gawd, that was seven years ago!) I looked up and emailed Peter, an old friend from gradeschool whom I hadn't seen in nearly a decade. Peter and I used to be rivals of a sort. At least in my mind. He was a kind of super-kid, talented in just about every way, and the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet on top of that. In short, the very worst kind of measuring stick for one's own achievements/value/etc ( ... )

Re: one is silver and the other iron pyrite. neverdoubt January 11 2004, 19:10:41 UTC

"I have a sort of cynical take on friendships as a result. I don't believe in unbreakable bonds, especially when those bonds were forged in childhood. I believe that friendships will wither and die without at least occasional attention. They cannot be put aside for years at a time and resumed at a more convenient date ( ... )

Re: one is silver and the other iron pyrite. madprophet January 12 2004, 08:18:07 UTC

It's tough to maintain friendships with people you don't see (one of the HUGE benefits of LJ), so maybe that accounts for the cycles. As it happens, I still have several close friendships with people I knew in high school, though many of them weren't friends when I knew them in High school ( ... )

You can't promote something that doesn't exist neverdoubt January 12 2004, 17:18:39 UTC

I am an only child. That's the problem. :)

I wonder if, when and if I become a parent, the old adage that you love all of your children equally will hold true.

Yes, and I think what we're talking about here has a lot to do with the difference between friends and acquaintances.

giantlaser January 11 2004, 09:18:52 UTC

I don't like seeing people from the years before high school, but not so much that I'd ask them not to contact me. Even if you're doubting your success, it seems very insecure to cut off contact for fear of the mirror they'd hold up. A mirror which is more often in our own heads, not in the intent of another.

neverdoubt January 11 2004, 15:30:06 UTC

Insecure -- you hit the nail on the head.

It wasn't nice of me to ask her to not contact me and I regret it. She sent me another e-mail, obviously upset by what I had said. Debating whether or not I should e-mail her back and apologize. But the truth is, I really don't want to communicate with her or anyone else from those days...but I also realize I don't have to be so blunt about it. I think I hurt her feelings which is not cool.

As far as the "mirror" I'm afraid of her holding up, yes, it is in my head. And that's a more powerful place for it to be than in someone else's.