Several weeks ago I send out a facebook message to a couple of primary school friends I had reconnected with thanks to facebook. I said that we should catch up and so we arranged a date that suited us all, booked a place and then this past weekend the big day came.
We went to The Lighthouse Restaurant at Cleveland, close to our old primary school stomping grounds (and where two of the girls still live) and caught up. I arrived first and Rachie O arrived soon after and for awhile there we thought it might just be us but Carlie & Michelle showed up. We were expecting another two but they must have decided not to come which was fine since the four of us had a great catch up.
I had seen Rachie O earlier in the year when I was home for Christmas but I hadn`t seen Carlie or Michelle since I was about 17 and even before then after age 12 it had been a bit sporadic. It just goes to show though, that while time passes us by at what seems like lightening speeds sometimes, there are some people in your life that you can meet up with and just take off from where you left off.
With the amount of time I have spend living overseas since finishing highschool I have only a handful of friends from Australia whom I know I have the kind of relationships with that we can just pick up where ever we last left off and go from there. (Mandy, who couldn`t be there for our little reunion is one of those people also!)
While I was a bit nervous about meeting up with these girls again, because you never know if it is going to go smoothly or if the conversation will flow and lets face it, primary school finished over 10 years ago so who knew what we would have in common anymore. I am happy to say though that there was no uncomfortable silence and we really could just take off from where we left off.
We chatted about careers, our boys, our futures and our pasts. We reminised about crazy primary school memories and laughed over old inside jokes.
A common theme in our conversation was friendship and how we had evolved and formed long last friendships with some and not so long lasting friendships with others- both from our primary school days and our highschool days and even our lives now. I know that I will see these girls again sometime soon, and we are arranging a get together before Christmas, this time with our partners as well.
While we have all gone our separate ways, one of us an accountant, one of us a lawyer and one of us a personal trainer (who was also a manager of a chalet in France and also a car saleswoman!) and me, a roaming girl with no real career yet, we still had common ground. These are girls who I have known since I was 4 or 5-we saw each other grow up, we know each others brothers and sisters and family and we remember what the others dreams were all through primary school! I know it sounds cliched but the conversation honestly never did stop and surprisingly we still had a connection even after all this time.
Five hours later we hugged, said goodbye and promised to not let so many years go by without another reunion!
Do you still have primary school friends? Do you meet up on a regular basis? Since the facebook revolution have you reconnected with people you haven`t seen or spoken to in years?
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to make sense of the crazy Japanese world we live in! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son in January 2011, 2 months premature (Shion). I am working hard at raising them to be confident, bilingual, happy kids!
hm…well, i went to three different elementary schools, so no, i don’t have any school friends i still talk to.
and i don’t belong to facebook (shock!) so i haven’t done that, either! poor illahee
How fun! I think it`s important to stay connected to your childhood friends even if it`s only once in awhile.
I have 3 good friends that I have known since junior high and we have kept in touch over the years and try to meet up every chance we get (not often with me abroad!).
Since Facebook, I have reconnected with a ton of people from highschool but haven`t met any of them in real life. I probably would if I lived in the same city though.
hahahaha! My brother told me to sign up for facebook so I did…and I have got in touch with a lot of random people from my past- some I am happy about, others not so much. But the girls I met up with on Sunday I am very pleased about- it really was a great lunch & catch up session (after a great morning of sewing at my first sewing lesson- turns out I was not as crap as I first thought)
You are not missing out on much in terms of facebook though- I got really into it but now I use it just like I use email- to send messages to friends and also see others photos.
I went to the same elementary school from age 4-12 (no junior high in Australia in most cases) and the same highschool from age 13-17. Actually the four of us from Sunday all started in preschool and stayed til end of year seven but there were a lot of other kids that floated in and out of our lives for a year or two during primary school.
Tigermama- you snuck in while I was writing my comment!!! I like to stay in touch with old friends but it is difficult the more you move around and the more everyone else moves around. I know I have a handful of friends that I beleive I will always stay in touch with but you never really know what will happen.
I have three highschool friends I keep in close contact with and up until the other day only one primary school friend that I kept in close contact with although now it is four I guess!!
Do your parents/family still live in the same city you went to school? I suppose next time you are back there you could organize a mini reunion if you wanted to!
Oh how I’d been hoping you’d do a post about the weekend meet up! Sounds like it went really well and I really wish I could have been there!
It’s funny how people come in and out of your lives, but I think having spent 7 years growing up together at the same small school, there is so much common “history” there that I don’t think there would have been a problem with lack of conversation and catching up!
(Oh dear, Horror at Camp Edgwell memories anyone?)
Been catching up on your blogs since you’ve gone – I remember spending an afternoon at your house on the sewing machine making a pencil case….actually, I remember when you got your first sewing machine, I slept over the night before your birthday and you got it in the morning! Excitement plus! Yours was really swish, while I had my Grandma’s old Husqvarna! Remember all the other fads? Elastics, yoyos, basketball cards, stickers, tamagotchis, skipping, handball?
Talk to ya soon luv! xx
Lulu wrote: “Do your parents/family still live in the same city you went to school? I suppose next time you are back there you could organize a mini reunion if you wanted to!”
This is part of the problem. My parents moved back to their home state of WA after I graduated so I never go back to my hometown in Canada. I heard there are plans for a 20-year (!!!!!) reunion in 2010 though and will definitely try make it back for that.
What a great day and it looks like a fabulous restaurant, too.
I think I stay in touch with school friends more than Uni friends which really isn’t saying much other than I don’t keep in touch with Uni friends very much!
Facebook sure brings it all flooding back though!
You’ve motivated me to try and find someone who I’ve often wondered what happened to.
This is quite timely because on Thursday I am getting together with 3 girls I went to primary school with. I have bumped into them occasionally on various occasions since I left primary school but I wouldn’t say we had stayed friends. Will be interesting to see them all. My 3 best friends in the UK are people I went to school with from the age of 11 and stayed in touch with throughout my travels/ uni days. Facebook has been great for re-connecting with people and it is fun to meet up with people. I think moving back to London from Japan would have been much harder for me without FB and it has helped re-establish my social life very quickly as everyone has been constantly reminded of the fact that I am back in London! LOL!
I think it’s really cool that you and your friends reconnected like that! : )
To answer the question, yes I am still friends with my childhood friends. : ) I have 3 very very close friends and one of them is my best friend. We grew up since we all went to the same Catholic school. From 1st grade until graduating to the 12th grade. It has always been a constant friendship with these girls.
We all went through the whole, riding bikes phase in first grade, played crazy games together like, “light as a feather, stiff as a board”. we all had our first crush on boys together. First bra era together. Who got their period first, lol. (not me btw) had crushes and tears and supported one another. We all took drivers Ed together (learned to drive) and we even went toilet papering one of their ex boyfriends house (who was a total creep to her) but we did it all together!!! I wrapped that tree in 2 rolls of TP myself! Now that’s friendship, lol!!!! Geeze, we shared everything, even clothes.
Now that we are all grown, I have been to the births to a few of their children. I am god mother to my best friends daughter. And she is god mother to my 2 boys. And yes, I see them whenever I am back home in Denver. I saw them a few month’s ago, when I was home. We email every week. Send packages and stuff and talk on the phone. Friendships like that do stand the test of time. : ) Excellent post! : )
Lulu! The photo is so darling, you look so HAPPY! Thank you so much for leaving such wonderful kind comments and wishing me luck, you are a wonderful person and I can’t wait to meet you in person!
All of us should go to a central location and have a Pajama party! Seriously! I still have childhood friends but I moved so much as a teenager, it was hard to keep in contact, but every time they see my dad (I had way too many pool and pajama parties where my dad would would make the popcorn and pick up the friends up who did not have cars or parents were busy) and each time they run into my dad at the Super— “Where is she Now”? But when we do talk, it is like second nature. Some went into different directions, but I cherish all the memories. It was a bit sad because we moved so often and lost touch, made new friends but I will never forget my primary school friends.
It looks like you had a fab time!! I have two friends from kindy/primary school who I keep in contact with and one from intermediate school. Most of my really realy close friends have been in my life for more than 10 years and it’s such fun reminicing about the good ole days! I’m also not a facebook member – those kinda websites are much too much work for me to keep updated. I prefer to email and read blogs! :p
I moved so much as a kid I don’t have a lot of friends around from my school days…
I’m facebook friends with some of them, but we don’t really talk very much.
You guys look like a great group – it must have been so fun to reminice and see how you all have lived your lives the past yeats.
I guess its sad, but I haven’t had a bunch of real good girl friends until I moved to Japan. All my uni friends were guys – with the exception of one or two!
Mandy- And I was hoping you would read it. We certainly missed you on Sunday and a catch-up in May is definitely in order. Probably with partners. Michelly will be married then also (as will I- how scary!) You are the only friend, apart from Kain, that I have from when I was younger that I used to bathe with- How scary is that. God I can not beleive that our parents though having baths together was a good idea?!?!
It is the very same sewing machine from my birthday at age 9 (or 10?)- I am much better now though than I was then. At least I hope so. Getting better at least.
BTW, we bought bridesmaid dress material! will send you a message soon about what measurements we will need. Hope you are enjoying having your parents around in Britain. i send my love.
Tigermama- I hope you can make it to your 20 year reunion!!! My ten year one will be coming up in 2012 and I am hopefully going to be able to make it back to that but I guess it depends…we will hopefully have a baby or two by then!!! I am really bad with American/Canadian geography…which state is WA? Washington????? SO you grew up in Canada but your parents were American? Did I get this right?!
Heather- All of my uni friends, I made in Japan on exchange! So I guess you could say I still keep in touch with most of them since when we live in Japan that is the group of friends I hang out with most. A mix of Japanese friends and friends I met on exchange who also returned to Japan.
There are a couple of people I have tried to search for who I completely lost touch with. A young friend, Sarah Jane, who I went to kindy with and another girl I used to live near. I wish to get in touch with them but it seems fate is not on our side…
Midori- That is amazing! I hope you have a GREAT time. I am pretty sure that fb has helped me connect with people since I am not back in Australia but I have to say honestly most of the people on my friends list from highschool do not interest me in the slightest- I have no desire to meet up with them although it is interesting to see how they are going.
FB has definitely been good for you since moving home then. That is good to hear!
Gina- Wow you went to the same school for 12 year?!? That is amazing- It is also great you have kept up such a bond with your friends from school and I really hope to keep that with my friends from primary and highschool. It is kind of also why I am happy we are marrying in Australia as some of my school friends can come- not that I have a lot but it will be nice to have them there all the same.
Girl Japan- I will also never forget my primary school friends which is why I am so happy I could catch up with them on the weekend. It is good that you also keep in touch with your old friends, like you, I am always happy to hear how my old friends are doing.
Jessica- It seems a few people have boycotted the facebook revolution- not that I blame anyone. I am finding it hard to keep on track of my own blog, other blogs, email, facebook & forums. Gets a bit hard sometimes and you don`t want to be away from RL for too long…
It seems quite a few of us keep in touch with our old friends which is nice to see/hear!
Sara- Better late than never!!! I had highschool friends, most of which I have had fallings out with or lost touch with now exept for an important couple so I am sure you have not missed out on much. It seems that a lot of people from America moved around a lot when they were younger- is this the norm???
You are very lucky to have formed such nice friendships now I think!!!
Good morning Lulu, yup same school. : ) Our Catholic school had the elementary in one building and then next door to the elementary was our church and across the street well “cul de sac” actually, was the junior high and high school building, it was all gated and took up about a good block/street. All nicely tucked away in a safe little subrub. : )
Have a good day. : ) We’re heading to Disneyland today, we figure the crowds won’t be busy on a weekday. So, should be a good day and night over there. : )