Friends at school

I wonder how many people truly kept the friendships they had at school.

I look at my girls and the friendships they are forming now and I wonder how many of these friends would still be their friends when they are all grown up.

Now that I'm mentioning this a particular song is popping into my mind - a song called School Aged Friendship that Paul wrote and has on a CD that he got professionally recorded before.  I don't think it is one that we have done as part of his Youtube recordings, but it is a lovely song!

For me - a few years ago I connected with a girl (Suret) I was in my final year in high school with.  At the time we weren't friends.  I remember a photo I took of her and her friend at the one sports day we had.  I can still see in my mind how they were posing for it.  Of course I can't actually find this photo (or the negatives for that matter) anymore.  A few years ago we both "found" each other through Facebook again and then discovered that we both lived in New Zealand.  So since then we've become good friends.

I'm in the 3 row, 3rd from the left and Suret is in the same row the last person on the right

Looking at the above photo while I am in contact with quite a few of them through Facebook, it is only Suret and I that are currently friends as such. 

The friends I did have at school I have lost complete contact with or we have grown completely apart.

At school I never had lots of friends.  I had a small number of friends that I felt comfortable with.

In my last year at primary school a boy in my class and I became really good friends.  A lot of kids thought we were boyfriend and girlfriend, but we were simply good friends.  When we went to high school the following year we both went to different schools and then discovered that our paths would cross to and from school so every day we'd catch up for a few minutes and share little letters we wrote to each other.  We were friends probably for around 3 years before we lost contact which was really sad for me - to lose such a good friend.  We've never spoken since, but I kind of found out through another friend that he is now apparently living and working on a farm or something.

My friend, Neels is the tall one in the middle.  The teacher was my maths teacher.  We were sooooo scared of this man.  In the front row the girl 2nd to the left was the girlfriend to the boy 2nd on the right and the boy right next to the teacher was the boyfriend of the girl right next to the teacher.

Library Prefects.  I'm in the back row second to the right

My best friends at my first high school were Wilna and Jackie.  We did everything together.

Wilna is at the number 21 and I'm right next to her.  This was during a history lesson.  Don't you just love our uniforms...

Library prefects - Wilna is in the front row 2nd to the left and I'm front row 2nd to the right with Jackie back row 3rd from the right

I mentioned it before that the 3 of us thought we'd start a band one day.  Had our band name all figured out and everything.  It would have been rather short-lived I think because Jackie was the only one who could actually sing and play an instrument - so yes, not quite sure what Wilna and I would have done. I did try out for the choir with Jackie (or attempted to), but was so nervous that I couldn't stop giggling - so that was the end of that.  I still have vivid memories of a cake Jackie and I baked for her birthday that turned out bright neon pink as we accidentally added too much colouring.   Jackie and I used to see who could write the longest letters to each other.  I think we got up to about 40 A4 pages.

Thanks to Jackie, this song that she always sang is one that will often pop into my mind

It was rather odd that Wilna and I became best friends.  She was really popular and we were actually quite different, but we were the very best of friends at the time.  I remember listening to the radio to a song Wilna's boyfriend who was in the army at the time dedicated to her.

When we moved to another town 300km away in my second to last year at high school Jackie, Wilna and I tried to keep the contact, but things changed and so we lost contact with each other.

Thanks to email and facebook I have (in recent years) caught up with both Jackie and Wilna and it was really nice to hear from them again, but I think we have simply outgrown each other and we now have nothing more in common.  The initial attempt to be in touch again didn't last unfortunately, but that's life.

Being on Facebook it is funny though - you connect with all these people who you were at school with and initially it is really interesting to find out how they are doing, what they are up to and perhaps even look at their photos, but beyond that, you realise that while you thought you'd always keep the contact with these people, people change.  Situations change. People drift apart.

Every so often one of the friends I had would pop into a dream at night.  Then suddenly I'd find myself wondering where they might be and what they might get up to.  Sometimes wishing we could catch up again (although it won't be the same, I know).  Times like those it feels like yesterday that we were back in school again and there are moments that I remember vividly clear.

With all of this in mind, here is just a little something I wrote today:

I wonder where you are today
I hope that you are well
Maybe walking on a beach
Collecting little shells

Maybe you are travelling
To places far and wide
With not a single care today
Feeling free and wild

Maybe you are settled
With a family and a home
Working hard on your career
Fingers to the bone

I remember the fun we used to have
And everything we shared
And how you wrote me little notes
To tell me that you cared

I remember the dreams
we often used to dream
Life was always simple
Or that is how it seemed

We always wished and always thought
That things would always stay
That paths would simply never part
That each would go their way

Sometimes it seems like yesterday
Oh the stories I could tell!
I wonder where you are today
I hope that you are well

Did you keep any friends you had at school?