BFFs

I never really had a BFF.  I had lots of good friends growing up, but I was never really a "best friend" type of person.  I was always more comfortable with having lots of different friends, even if we weren't really that close, than I was with having a "best" friend.  Part of this has to do with the fact that I switched schools several times growing up.  I switched in 3rd grade, and luckily 2 of my friends switched along with me.  I switched again in 7th grade, going back to school with some of those from 1st and 2nd grade.  However, my junior high was shutdown after 7th grade, so I ended up back with friends from 3rd-6th grade.  The school boundaries then changed, but I wanted to stay at the same school as my older siblings, so once again, I switched back to friends from 7th grade. This also means that my neighborhood friends went to the new high school. And, last but not least, my parents moved right before my junior year of high school, so my neighbors/church friends changed, but I got to stay at the same high school.  Of course, amidst all of this, other kids were moving in and out of my schools, and high school brought along friends that had gone to a different "feeder" school that I had never met.

I contrast this a bit with my husband's schooling experience.  I'm pretty sure that almost everyone that went to his elementary school also went to the same junior high and then the same high school together.  In fact, I don't think there was a 2nd junior high, so really, it was mostly the exact same group of kids that went to school together from 1st through 12th grade.  Wow.

Now that I've reconnected with friends from high school, junior high, and even elementary school on Facebook, sometimes I'm a little jealous when I read their comments about knowing each other's families or funny things from their early childhood they experienced together.  I don't really get it.  There are very few people in my life that were consistently around for my entire childhood.  One more reason to be thankful for a family of 6 children, where my brothers and sisters were always there and could be my "best friends".

I started thinking about this when I went to an assembly for my 2nd grader.  All the 2nd grade classes put on a Folk Song Festival.  My 2nd grader has a "best friend".  Actually, I think sometimes they fight as much as they get along, but she's still her "best friend".  I looked at all of those kids there lined up in classes and realized that, if we didn't move and lots of those kids stuck around, they could really end up going to all of elementary school, junior high and high school together.  That's such a foreign concept to me.  Having the same good friend consistently for 12 years.  Wow.  I have an older sister that experienced that, but not me. One more thing I will learn from my children, I guess: How to keep a consistent friendship going through all that life throws at you throughout your childhood and teenage years. How to be and have a BFF.