People Are Sharing What Happened To Their Childhood Best Friend, And It's Unbelievable How Quickly Things Can Change
Being a friend is one of my favorite things in the whole world. I love my friends like they're family. However, from all of the friends we meet and leave behind, we all have to learn the hard lesson that some friends are here for a lifetime while others are only meant to be here for a season.
A while ago, I made a post sharing stories of what happened to people's childhood best friends. Some were devastating, and some made your heart full. It also prompted even more people from the BuzzFeed Community to share their stories, and here's what they had to say:
1."We grew apart after high school. We grew up together, went to high school together, had sleepovers, etc. She got into boys at a young age, and I was a late bloomer (wanted to play with Barbie and listen to Spice Girls), so we did not have a lot of things to talk about. She failed a year of high school, and I graduated, and we just fell out of touch."
"This was the time when you had to pay to send messages. Picture an old Nokia phone. Fast-forward to the Facebook era; we connect on Facebook but do not meet up, just Facebook friends. We had a reunion when she gave birth three months after I had my son, but again, we had nothing in common. I did invite her to my son’s first birthday party, but after that, we remain just Facebook friends."
2."My best friend is still in my life; we met each other when we were 5. We have had a 30-year friendship, and I would be devastated if we didn’t remain friends. I had a friend in junior high who drowned during a summer break, and I still think about her all the time."
3."I had a best friend whose family moved into my neighborhood as immigrants from Italy. The family barely spoke English, and my parents welcomed them, and we exchanged our traditions with each other. They had a daughter named Catia that I became best friends with. We lived across the street from each other and became like sisters."
"As the years passed, her parents decided that they were going to move back to the 'Old Country' so her dad could take care of his ailing parents. I was heartbroken, to say the least. We did keep in touch via mail. Years later, I had the opportunity to visit with her a month after I graduated high school. She said she missed me and would cry thinking of me. I said the same. About eight years later, she came to visit me just before I got married. It’s been over 35 years since I’ve lost touch with her, but I know that she still thinks of me as I do of her. I still have dreams of us meeting up either in Italy or when she is visiting me here in the United States."
4."We talked about an hour ago, actually. We’re both 37, and we’ve been best friends for 35 years. He lives on the other side of the country, but we spent Father’s Day together with our kids in Boston."
5."We were besties — the kind that walks into your house and calls your parents Mom and Dad. We got an apartment together, and they changed. I got tired of keeping their secrets of being a cheater and a shitty person."
"They ditched me all the time because I worked two jobs trying to keep up with their parents' money. We ended up in a fight. I kicked their ass and moved to another state. Now, they live in the same state as I do, probably within a few hours of me. I get Facebook memories that come up, and I delete or untag them. I don't wish them ill, but I hope they shit their pants in public on a consistent basis."
6."My first best friend grew up on the same street. We were the same age and 'knew' each other as babies. She moved away when we were in the fourth grade. We tried to keep in touch but eventually lost contact around middle school. I would love to know how she is doing. Courtney, if you are on BuzzFeed, I hope you are doing great."
"My other best friend and I became friends around middle school. We had an apartment together in college. She met a racist cop (a racist cop, such a surprise) and became a racist right-winger. I lost contact shortly after her marriage. I wish her the best and hope she has gained compassion."
7."We were best friends from elementary to junior high. Then we drifted apart because we went to different high schools. Then, in 2001, 15 years after high school graduation, my wife was having her yearly gynecologist appointment with a new doctor. While she was having the examination, naturally, she and the doctor were talking."
"She mentioned that her husband, me, grew up in San Rafael, California, because he had mentioned that he was from there. He noted that her last name was the same as his childhood best friend's, and then he said my name. She replied, 'He is my husband!' Afterward, they both agreed that she should see another doctor, as it was too weird for the both of them."
8."I lost touch with everyone from my school. Now most of them drank the orange foolaid and spew garbage on Facebook all day. The only person I thought was my best friend blew me off after I moved away. I’m in vague touch with a couple people I knew as a kid who didn’t drink the orange foolaid, but both have suffered major health issues and awful adulthoods. We are still close, like no time has passed."
9."Thirty-four years of friendship; there have been ups and downs; we moved out of state within weeks of each other (and a 20-minute drive from each other). We met our significant others and moved again to the same city. Finally, I moved to one coast, and she moved to the other! We talk every day and support each other. We have been through every life moment together, and that will never change."
10."We went to different elementary and high schools but stayed super close, having regular sleepovers growing up. We graduated and moved in together, living together for three years. We are still very close; we don't talk nearly as much as we used to, but she is my unofficial lifemate, and I love her to death."
"We celebrate our friendaversaries; we got tattoos to commemorate our 25th friendaversary, and we want to go to Greece for our 30th. Our husbands refer to us as their other 'wives' because we call each other 'wife' LOL."
11."Her little sister was friends with my little sister. We moved when she and I were in fourth grade, and we lost touch. Two years later, we ran into each other in the restroom at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC (neither of us are from there or lived there). I kick myself all the time that we didn’t at least take a picture together then, but in the late 1980s, you just didn’t take pictures of everything. Carrie and Katie, I hope you guys have a great life!"
12."She had to move away to another state (in the middle of the night) because her husband had a plot to murder her, their two kids, and himself on his birthday (which was a week away). I didn't hear from her for a few months, for safety, and then one day she popped up in my DM's to tell me everything. It's been a few years, and she and the kids are doing much better. I still miss her. Her ex is still living in town, so she doesn't want to come back."
13."For years, I was friends with a girl whose one leg was almost two and a half inches longer than the other. When we were 14, her doctors told her parents they could operate on her to even out the legs. She and her parents were terrified, but I convinced her that this would be an amazing opportunity, and she eventually begged her parents to agree. They did, and the surgery worked."
"It worked even better than expected; her shorter leg was supposed to be 'stretching out' for about six months, but it only took two, and the pain was mild. After the surgery, she started ignoring me, and whenever we met, she looked down on me. I wasn't expecting gratitude or anything like that, but her ditching me this way after everything we've been through still hurts."
14."Our moms were friends in high school, so I don’t have any memory of not knowing her. I am less than a month older than her. We officially met when we were about 2 and a half because I was born in a different state and then moved back to my mom’s hometown. We call each other’s moms 'aunt,' so everyone in elementary school thought we were cousins."
"I moved out of state when I was 10, and we sort of kept in touch, but our moms really did, so that helped. Thanks to early Facebook, we reconnected, and over the last couple years, she’s been there for me every step of the way as my mom has battled cancer. Sadly, it’s mutual now, and we have to be there for each other while both our moms have cancer. Thank God for texting since we live 1,400 miles apart."
And finally, this person shared the most wholesome story of friendship that's sure to make your heart swell up to 30 times its normal size:
15."We always dreamed about moving out of our home state together. London was the dream when we were kids, but once we became adults and couldn't stomach the political climate in Texas, Colorado became the dream. After 29 years of friendship, we are happily living as roommates just outside of Boulder, Colorado!"
"We are so happy we did not do this in our 20s, as we are both much more secure and happy with ourselves in our 30s. We make each other better. Most of our neighbors assume we are a couple, which makes sense given how close we are, but we are just two happy single ladies loving life in the same house. Our cats are also best friends, so that's an added bonus!"
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Want to share your story of what happened to your childhood best friend? Let me know in the comments.