Is it the old 'out of sight, out of mind' routine? E-mail messages that go unanswered, or, what's just as bad, short put-you-off answers. Same with phone calls. These are people that were great friends, once upon a time. I guess I'm like that old country western song, by .... somebody (I forgot his name), "Am I that easy to forget?"
Oh, tears and sobs.
2007-11-16 14:38:50 · 11 answers · asked by TRAF 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Senior Citizens
I find the same thing...it is as if we have all gone our separate ways and don't care about the past....bad idea to burn friendship bridges, but it has happened to me often...perhaps that says more about me than them????? Phil
2007-11-16 16:29:09 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's harder with such busy lives and people so far apart to stay in touch. Also as we age we often have less in common than when we were young. I e-mail and make calls sometimes, I also write notes monthly to several people. They don't always write back right away, but later I'll get a note saying how much my letter meant to them. I've found some friendships in life will continue, some won't. It takes effort from both people.
2007-11-16 15:16:27 · answer #2 · answered by luvspbr2 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am in contact with friends I made 30 - 45 years ago. Every now and then I'll write to someone I haven't heard from in many years, and for the most part I'll get a response. Life just gets in the way. Hubby struggles with this - when people he viewed as friends see him, they're so happy to get to spend time with him again, and they promise to stay in touch but don't. It takes work from both sides. People have commented that they were glad to hear from me and really meant to get back to me, but they just got busy. Excuses, maybe, but at least I do my part and people are happy that they were thought of.
2007-11-16 22:35:51 · answer #3 · answered by Lady G 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps you must look at what you define as a friend, old or otherwise , because these people do not sound like friends.
I have friendships of more than forty years with quite a few people. Sometimes there's a decade or two that might pass, but if they are your REAL friends , it won't matter one bit. You can pick it back up like it was yesterday.
2007-11-16 15:11:03 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't know PAD-D. I am usually the one that has to keep in touch. I am not a telephone person, but I try to get people together and touch base by writing or doing lunch. Guess people are just too busy or don't want to be bothered anymore as they age.
2007-11-16 14:53:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
It's not hard to keep in touch with old friends, it's a matter of priorities! And that's the truth of the situation.
I have friends that have been with me since they were babies and we still converse by e-mail and phone.
Don't cry and moan, just make some new friends.
Life's too short to not have a buddy!
2007-11-16 14:46:07 · answer #6 · answered by Cranky 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I wish I had it as easy as you do. My friends can call anytime, & they often do just that! They now exist in another world & drop my unannounced at the darndest times. Emails haven't come my way from any of them yet...I think it's still foreign to their basic knowledge & skills at the time of their death! No tears or sobs from this human.
2007-11-16 15:34:04 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life tends to move us around and we just lose touch. Used to be you grew up and married and stayed close to that town. Now people rarely stay in one place anymore for very long. Address books quickly become outdated and phone numbers change and the connection is severed.
2007-11-16 14:56:44 · answer #8 · answered by Aloha_Ann 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think our priorities change as we get older. Our lives go in different directions and sometimes(talking from my experience), we just don't take the time to communicate. I have a high school friend that I used to keep in touch with. She had moved to Colorado, and everytime I talked to her she would always make a comment about "sorry, you are stick stuck in Indiana."So now, when I have extra time, I choose to be on Yahoo or sleep and don't have time for her.
2007-11-16 22:30:20 · answer #9 · answered by Harley Lady 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
When we move away from our childhood home, for example, our lives change, and beyond what we did in the past, we have no common ground. I left home in 1965, joined the Navy, traveled the world...litterally. Some of my friends have barely left the east coast. I've been as far north as Nova Scotia, as far south as Antarctica (13 months), as far east as Pakistan and as far west as Thailand. I 'did my time' in Viet Nam, sailed 8 oceans/seas, been to over 30 countries (some more than once) and was stationed in 3 countries. I've picked up 8 languages, enough to get something to eat, not get lost and carry on a limited conversation. I now work with foreign navies. What do I have in common with someone who feels a 'big trip' is to go to D.C. for the weekend? That may sound crass, but I was 'up home' not too long ago and ran into an old friend I knew from 2nd grade. After a lot of "did you hear about so and so"..."what have you been doing", our conversation lagged. I was ready to go, and I think he was, too.
I keep in touch with no one from school (oddly, the 3 that I did keep up with have died). I keep in loose touch with several old shipmates (male and female). I found one a couple of weeks ago whom I haven't talked to since 1986 (just by chance I typed her name in MYSPACE...and there she was) and when I called her, she broke down crying. I gave her email/mail addresses of the 'other 3' we used to run with. She is coming for Thanksgiving and the weekend (long story...no family, etc).
So, we shouldn't feel guilty because we've lost touch with old friends. If you know where they are, drop them a card and let them know you're thinking about them. Sometimes it's hard to find them, and sometimes when you do, it's bad news. I searched for a guy I ran with when I was between 6th & 7th grades when I spent the summer with my grandparents once in Ohio. I found his family still lived where they used to, and sent a card to him via them. I got a letter back from his mom (dad had died) to let me know he had been killed in Viet Nam back in 1970, but she remembered me.
Heck, for years most of my high school class mates thougth I was dead. Seems a guy in the next town with the same name (but 12 years older)had died. Were some folks REALLY surprised when I finally showed up for my 30th class reunion! (Missed my 5th while in Japan, 10th while in Sardinia and 20th while in Israel, and just missed my 40th because I was away on a project on the west coast).
Ok, this old man is through rambling. I have to get dressed and go do a 'GRAN PRIX' (similiar to the Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby) work shop for our AWANA kids at church.
If you can read, thank a teacher. If you can read English, thank a Vet.
2007-11-17 01:22:04 · answer #10 · answered by AmericanPatriot 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋