Can we count cousins as friends?
if so, my cousins Luke, Sean, and Ellie have been my best friends since as far back as I can remember, so about 20 years. I’m 23, but I don’t remember when I was like 1 or 2 years old.
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Friends from kindergarden. I have 5-6 best friends from 1st grade at 6 years old and then a lot of friends i have met later in life. More than 20 years
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17 years uni friend. A friendship I truly cherish…
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Before or after getting schizophrenia? Before schizophrenia my longest friendship was 7 years. I became friends with the guy who ivied upstairs from me in an apartment building when I was in fifth grade. I knew him all through high school except sometimes we didn’t didn’t speak for weeks or months when we got in fights and we were mad at each other. Or when our little circle of friends took turns cutting each other out for periods of time.
We still hung out after we graduated from high school but then we drifted apart a year after graduating. It kind of makes me sad right now to think
about it because were close and we had a lot of good times and we went through our teen years knowing each other and going through all those “firsts” you go through as a kid. Like discovering girls, getting cars and going cool places, going out for organized sports, getting drunk and going to parties, cruising the main drag trying futilely to pick up girls, getting our first jobs at the same restaurant, etc.
Anyways, after I got diagnosed I made a few friends who I knew for years who were also schizophrenic. I met one guy in 1984 who was my neighbor. Nice guy, good sense of humor, pleasant to be round. We used to sit in each ,others apartment drinking coffee and talking, or sitting on the front porch having a few beers and watching the people walk by. We also used to walk to nearby clubs and get something to eat and he was brave enough to get up and dance.
I knew him for four years. Then I moved away and lost touch with him. Then I ran into him ten years later when we both joined a day program. We just picked up the friendship right where we left off. But when I left that program, I never saw him again. I have had other friendships while I was schizophrenic.
I know half a dozen people from high school. My oldest is early grade 8 but have other close friends about that same time.
I grew up with my parents who never had other friends. I had wonderful extended family but friends were important to me!
I still see these people or talk to them quite often depending on life!