Complex Numbers

Unfriended

PROMPT November 20th

Do you remember your first friend? Under what circumstances did you become friends? Are you still in contact with them or any of your other childhood friends?

Well, now, I don't know - if I can't remember one, how would I know if the one I do remember was my first friend?

A few friends from childhood have contacted me over the years, especially after Facebook became a thing. Most of them, once they found out I didn't have kids, stopped contacting me. I prefer to think that's because they're jealous, but it was probably more like not knowing what to talk about with me. There's only so much "Hey, you remember Miss Martin from third grade?" you can put up with.

Being an only child living in a rural area, I didn't have many friends. This prepared me for the realities of life, so I'm grateful for it. The few I did have were mostly associated with whatever school I was going to. In retrospect, I think most of them were my friends because my parents were friends with their parents, and that's about it.

One guy I met in middle school I'm still in contact with. We were friends all through high school and college, and took road trips together, including a very memorable one to Florida that ended up with both of us completely broke. Eh... not as interesting a story as you might think from that description; we were just young and therefore crappy at budgeting. Point is, we drifted apart after college, but got back into contact after he moved back to my area. He wasn't my first friend, of course, but he's the only one from before high school that I still talk to.

I have, at times, wondered whatever became of certain people from my childhood. But I quashed that curiosity once I found out one of them was serving 20+ for homicide. Yeah, some things I could have done without knowing.