Do you think you outgrow friends - Page 5

qvcaddition · ‎03-10-2010

I was in my early 20,s when I met my neighbor who was 10 years older than me. She watched my two other children when I had my third.. She was with me through three divorces and many ups and down,s. Today she is 92 and our children all in late 50,s. We are still friends. We have nothing in common for a few years, but talk on the phone once a week.

The rest of friends have fallen by the wayside. They were actually acquaintances. Lots of acquaintances, only three true friends and two died.

Drythe · ‎07-09-2011

@I am still oxox

I think people’s interests and focuses.

Things that we’re once important to both are no longer.

Something new is important to one, but not interesting or possible to the other.

Time becomes allocated differently.

Needs change.

Health changes.

Not sure it is out growing, or just change.

But it certainly happens.

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras

mrssims · ‎08-07-2012

I don’t know if “outgrow” is the right word. When my sons were little and played baseball, we had summer friends from the league they were in and parents from their team. In winter we had grammar school friends. Then high school parent friends in the winter and high school baseball parents in the summer. But my husband and I have stayed close with the couples, parents of kids friends we made in the parochial school they attended. Women friends from that time also and a friend since kindergarten. So outgrow sounds like you surpassed those friends. I prefer changed friends.

AngelPuppy1 · ‎03-13-2010

I don't know. I really don't. I sat and thought about this for a good while. I know there are many people who were in my life at one point or another that I THOUGHT were friends, but now that I think back, I don't think the majority of them were ever really FRIENDS. Not in the deep sense or true meaning of the word. I think you meet and come in contact wth people who seem to be maybe in a similar station or time and place as you and so you might form a type of relationship but then as this situation or particular station ends, so does the relationship. NOW --- a true, real friendship --- no, I don't believe that you ever outgrow this. A true friend ---- this is someone who loves you through the highs and lows of your life, who loves you when you're not so lovable. A true friend is one who accepts you in every stage of your life --- does not judge you --- is there with arms wide open --- no matter what.

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night." - Steve Martin

qualitygal · ‎10-04-2010

yes, and sometimes, family too.

PINKdogWOOD · ‎05-13-2010

I think we grow apart - people move, some have kids, things happen in our lives that draw us apart. Yes I do believe this. The friends we were close with all had children (who are now turning 40ish or so with kids of their own). We do not have kids and I do believe those who did/do stick more together than those who don't. With the move yrs ago to all the techno toys, electronics etc makes the ubiquitous us think it's easier to text/email with no thought process to actually call each other to hear our voices chatter. Lives change, priorities change. What I find in my personal life, if I don't make a phone call, I don't talk to anybody. They don't seem to find the want, desire, time or need to call me just to say hello. It's all very sad.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

What @Shanus said but in reverse for me and motherhood.

Although we all were married around the same time, all my friends had children long before I did. I no longer had anything in common with them, I was odd man out.

2blonde · ‎03-10-2010

On the flip side, I know a pair of very friendly, charming ladies from my gym. They are in their mid-thirties and have been best buddies from school since the 3rd grade! They are so cool and don't even mind if I (70 years old) hang out with them!

Laura loves cats!

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

No question about it, we often do outgrow friendships. Sometimes the the thing that brought us together ends and we realize that with out that thing, there's nothing. That happens with work friends and for me it has happened with women that I met through school and community activities with the kids. That was our bond, other than that we didn't have much in common.