I understand what you mean completely. I have noticed over the years that many of the people that I used to consider close friends are really not much more than acquaintances nowadays. This is most noticeable with my best childhood friend. We met when we were 10 and were insperable for ages. Then her family made the decision to move to Wisconsin. She didn't want to leave her job and friends here, so she moved in with my family. That lasted about a year before she began to miss her own family so much that she made the decision to move to be with them. By this point they had moved from Wisconsin to Michigan. I cried so hard the day she left. I felt empty and lonely, I thought it would never end. But it did. I met my children's father several months after she moved away, I went on to have 2 kids, I am not back in college, I raise chickens, have dogs, birds, cats, a house in the country, etc. Her? She has had 2 boyfriends her entire life, was 33 before she um, became a "woman", if you get my drift. Her social life consists of hanging out with her friends, bowling, and working. We didn't really have much in common as kids now that I look back, but we have absolutely nothing in common now as adults. I still love her, I talk to her on FB, but she never has much to say. Her sister was also one of my best friends growing up, and I still have a close relationship with her. I talk to her more than my other friend. In fact she is the one that is fascinated by my chickens, especially my Silkies. She just loves looking at the pictures I post of them. But my other friend hasn't said 2 words about my birds, my life, or anything. I kind of feel like we're strangers now. A good majority of the people on my FB are family or people I went to school with when I was a kid. Now, that doesn't mean I have a lot in common with them. It just means they are blood or people I've know for decades. As for close friends? I have one now. My real best friend and the other half of my soul died in January of 2009. I have not been able to successfully adjust to losing her, I just miss her so very much. She and I came from two completely different worlds, but once we met, I knew I'd love her forever, and that she'd love me just as long. You'd have shocked to see how completely different we were. She was Potowatomee Indian, Guatalaman, Italian, and Puerto Rican, and came from a bad area in Chicago, was raised around gangs, was IN A gang, had her first child at age 18, was primarily a stay at home mom, but she turned her life around after her first son was born. No more gangs, drugs, bad behavior, etc. She was ghetto (her own self description), and proud of it because she knew how far she had come. Me? I was a middle class white girl, grew up on the Northside of Chicago which is now commonly referred to as Yuppyville, and then my family moved to the suburbs of Chicago. I was raised in a normal neighborhood. None of my close friends did drugs, and only one or two got pregnant our senior year of high school. I went to college, the Army, (failed at both, but I gave it my best shot!), and then started working. Then I met my ex. Her husband's best friend. They introduced us when I was pregnant with my 1st daughter. She had just given birth to her first son, and she helped me through that pregnancy, and we just really hit it off. I knew her secrets and she knew mine. She saw me through both my kids births and the failure of my relationship with my childrens' father. I saw her through 3 more kids, 2 miscarriages, many, many illnesses, 2 miscarriages, the murder of her nephew, and so very much more. She was 4 years younger than me but in many ways she was infinitely wiser. She died at the tender age of 29. She left behind 3 sons and a daughter, and a husband that has had to cope with suddenly being a single father after being with her for more than 15 years. So she and I really did not have a whole lot in common, besides the fact that we both had kids. But man I loved her fiercely, she was like my sister, and I miss her terribly ever single day. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you don't pay such close attention to the differences between you and others, you'd be surprised to find how much you actually have in common. And how much you actually like each other. Aww darn it, now I'm crying. I just miss her so much. She was a once in a lifetime kind of friend, and I feel so honored to have known her in this lifetime.
