Keep the old

This just in: your old friends still exist. Yes, although you haven’t spoken to them in three years, they have not miraculously disappeared.

I have huge problems with people who lose contact with their friends from high school. Are you pretending high school did not exist? Because it did. Sure, you may have some awful memories, but I’m sure you had some good ones as well. And these memories probably took place with those friends you never see anymore.

My core group of friends has been the same for about ten years now. I have known all of them since at least 2000, but I have known a few since 1994. I speak to almost all of them on a daily basis still, and I see them as often as our schedules permit.

It baffles me that so many people can’t even tell me where their old friends from high school are attending college. I know that college is a new chapter in everyone’s lives, but old chapters should not be forgotten. Making new friends is great, and necessary, but it should not require replacing old friends.

I’m aware that college is a busy time. People have classes. People have homework. Many people work in order to pay for these classes. That still doesn’t give them the right to forget about old friends. I’m not suggesting that you return home every weekend and spend the entire time cradling your old friends telling them how much you appreciate them. What I am suggesting is a simple phone call every now and then. They’ll appreciate it. I know I would.

The friends you make in college can be great (well maybe yours can, I wasn’t so lucky). But you can’t allow them to replace your old friends. You grew up with them. You experienced life together. You did a lot more than just party with them. They don’t deserve to be forgotten. Give them a call.