Memories of my teens

I am still friends with my best friend who I first met at age 9. She is like a sister to me. I still meet up with two other friends who I did nursery nursing training with at age 16, one of them I also went to school with a third unfortunately died of cancer when she was 59. I still miss her our birthdays were only 11 days apart. I was so sad she would not see her small grandchildren grow up.

At 16 and 17 I had what I thought would be friends for life, except that I broke all the rules and got myself pregnant and had a baby at just 18 which was the end of all of my friendships. Okay so one or two visited me and “the baby” a couple of times but that soon died a death when I couldn’t get a babysitter and every meet up involved “the baby” which isn’t exactly cool for an 18 year old.

So my teenage years were mostly lonely and miserable if I’m being honest .

I still keep in touch and meet my best friend whenever I am in the UK, we have been friends for seventy years, went to School together, Nursed together, we were each others Bridesmaids/Maids of Honour, and although I dont live in the UK it is lovely we still have a strong friendship, we know we are there for each other.

So good to read about all your memories and old friendships.

Thanks for the condolences. I really have been surprised at my reaction to my old friend’s death.

I know she and her husband were volunteers for a canal conservation trust, so I sent a cheque to them in her memory, as I knew she would’ve been pleased.

I keep in touch with 4 college friends and 5 school friends, one of which started infant school at the same time as I did. We meet up from time to time. I still know people from the church youth club. A few years ago I bumped into someone from primary school so re-kindled an old friendship. Sadly the 11+ severed some friendships.

I'm going to London next month to meet my besty and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the day of our meeting on the 16th. Wonderful!

I know just what you mean. I now live 200 miles from where I grew up and hadn't seen any since school days. So I put an advert in their local newspaper and 4 people got in touch. Sadly 2 didn't keep up the correspondence but the other 2 are great friends. We often chat on the phone and I visit the area each year. Also a lad who was our neighbour and my age died last year. Life is just too short. X

It seems some friendships come to a natural end, whilst others are more resilient, Lovely to hear so many of you still have childhood friends, it’s good to share memories

Some friendships stay and some go. My parents were friendly with my best friend’s parents and we kept in touch after we left school even though we were in different parts of the country. I don’t know if the link came to a natural end after both sets of parents died but she just suddenly seemed to drop out of contact. I sent a card for a significant birthday but got no response when it was my own. I think you have to make a real effort to keep up with people especially if they don’t live close. Newer friendships take over as you move through life

I still count my teenage bestie as my closest friend. We now live 2 hrs apart but speak often and visit each other. Our DH's get on well too which is lovely.
I would be devastated to hear she had died. My sympathies for your loss Kate I hope your memories bring comfort.

On Sunday evening our house phone rang (a rare occurence) and my husband answered. A femail voice said you dont know me but does Daisy still live there? I am a voice from the past. It turned out be be my old friend L. We first met at school when we were 11 and the met again when we were married and both moved to the same area. We were very close when the children were young but then I moved away to a different part of the country. We still kept in touch and even since we moved abroad. But a few years ago the Christmas cards dried up from quite a few friends. Talking on the phone it was as though we had only seen each other a few weeks ago. Good to reminisce about the old days.

NanKate. I’m sorry to hear about your friend. What a horrible shock.
I have lost contact with all my school friends from the 60s and 70s, which is rather sad. However, I have stayed in contact with 5 of my friends I met at Teacher Training College in 1970. For the last few years I have met up with 3 of them for a whole night away in a Travelodge and we have talked, laughed and remembered the good old days almost non-stop for the whole 24 +hours! We usually go to a NT place, but this year decided we didn’t need an attraction to visit, just a Weatherspoons or similar to chat, remember and talk about our families in general. I can’t wait until our next get together in September. Can’t believe it will be 50 years next year since we all met at the ages of 18 and 19 but am so grateful we are still in regular contact via email, cards and our annual meetings.

I was a 'good girl' in my teens. Wasn't allowed to go out dancing on a Saturday night with my friends. I was quite shy so that didn't bother me too much. I was bookish and liked school on the whole once I was able to give up 'domestic science', art and music which consisted of singing soppy songs and I was no singer! I had a granny and other relatives just round the corner - a safe haven if I was out of favour for some reason! I went everywhere on my trusty bike, spending time in the summer on tennis courts or on the beach. A good place to grow up.

When we were little my cousin and I were best friends, in and out of each other’s houses all the time, then she moved away in her twenties, and I haven’t seen her since

I recently had a letter from my very elderly aunt, to say she’d suddenly died

I was amazed at how sad I felt, I couldn’t stop thinking about when we were little girls, and how close we were, it’s dredged up so many happy memories, but I feel so sad we hadn’t kept in touch

My teens and early 20s were times of worry for me. Exams, work and so on. I was never a wild thing. My 40s were much better. Happy and settled and having a lot of fun at work as well as job satisfaction and having the chance to travel.

I moved away from my home country at the age of twenty, and I did not keep in touch with any of my school friends. I often think about them and if I am awake at night. I imagine them again as when we were all teenagers together. I think about how they looked and what their names were, and try really hard to remember their surnames, but I cannot.
My husband died three years ago and recently I looked up one or two people from my youth on line. Most of the girls would have changed their names on marriage, of course. I only found one person who I knew then, an old flame, and he has become quite famous as an author. Unfortunately I also found out that he lost a leg after contracting MRSA following an operation in a hospital. . I just cannot imagine that lovely young as an old man with only one leg. It was interesting to read about how his life has been, and he had three children.

Having lost a friend and dear neighbour a few years ago, made me think about what you said. We moved into our house in 1976 they were new houses so more or less moved in about the same time. I had two children and so did she our dh got on as well. When the children were older we would attend there school dances, football, and cricket dances to through the 80s and early 90s we had so much fun.
They moved away after that and we lost touch a bit. I then heard she had died, I found it quite upsetting we had been through so much together. Lovely memories though

I am so lucky to still have so many friends from years ago, 2 are from Infants school, 3 from senior school and 2 from college days, plus a sprinkling of about 15 from various jobs along the way. Last month I was traced by another old school friend who is arranging a big class reunion in July, so that will be amazing to see friends from 50 years ago ! Am so looking forward to it ....

I lost touch with all my teenage friends and don’t expect any are still alive. I know some were killed during the war.

You can always make new friends.

But you can't make old friends.

I met up with 3 school friends for the first time in 35 years last year, we all recognised each other immediately, and since then we have met up twice, each time not only sharing memories from school days, but talking about each of our lives now, it's been great, and I'm looking forward to meeting them all again in July.

Thanks for all the great replies. Glad I am not the only one who thinks about those happy, carefree days of our youth. The great 1960s clothes, the music, the parties and just having fun. I was lucky and had great parents who allowed me some freedom.

I must admit I had a lucky escape as a year or so back I saw a photo of a chap I was besotted with. He hadn’t improved with age one bit and I am sure he would say the same about me ? I can't Imagine what I saw in him.

Last year I heard that someone who had been my boyfriend nearly 55 years ago had died. It brought me up short and also made me feel very sad. He had emigrated but I always thought he was out there, somewhere. I wish we had kept in touch.

This is very relevant for me - thanks NanKate for starting the thread.
I try to keep in touch with 'best friends' from different stages of my life. Sadly most seem to have passed on before me. But I'm still in regular phone and email correspondence with my closest friend during working days. She's not so well at the moment [sad}.
And my close friend when we were living in France. She's still there.
We're all in our early 80s.

Thanks for the encouragement Greenfinch, I’m sure we’d be hysterical with laughter in minutes, remembering our misspent youth!