Back in the last millennium, when I was 15 years old, I had a few good friends from elementary school. We were a team, the four of us, then primary school graduates.
It was a period when we moved from the classrooms of the elementary school in the neighborhood to the classrooms of secondary schools and high schools throughout the city.
Everyone went their own way to a new environment and a new society.
But still, we remained a group from the old neighbourhood.
Years passed, and I fit into a new society in high school, got to know more young people in my town, started going out to cafes and parties and tried to be likeable and accepted in that new environment.
Years passed, high school ended.
I made some friends there, with whom I did not stay in constant contact after school.
We see each other at some jubilees of graduation celebrations (like last week, when we celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the graduation from high school at a celebration in a pub attended by 20 of us), we talk, praise our achievements, drink, sing and leave.
However, my high school friends lived in other parts of the city and were not as close to me as my friends from the neighborhood.
Even after high school, my friends from elementary school were my best company.
It's time to enroll in colleges.
At university, I fell into a new society again. Girls and boys from all over the country were my new environment, and I, like in high school, tried my best to adapt and be accepted among them.
All the time I was studying, I was constantly in contact with these three from elementary school and sometimes went to student parties together with them, and introduced them to my colleagues (but also female colleagues🙂) from the university.
After college, going to the army, again a new company, then the first job, and then a new company, then a second job, and a third...
And acquaintances with people from other countries and from other continents...
And all that time, the four of us, with the occasional addition of some other mutual acquaintances, formed a permanent team from the old region.
That's how it was when we were 7 years old, and that's how it is today, 42 years later...
We got together this weekend to celebrate the birthday of one of us.
A favorite cafe, a quality lunch, some drinks and a long story, like every time we get together.
A friendship story of adults who have known each other for almost their entire lives.
True and only sincere friends.
Friendship formed at the beginning of elementary school, when we didn't know what interests were, what the differences were in finances, when we were all the same, humble and naive.
When I saw the thread galen posted for this occasion:
If you could go back in time to when you were fifteen years old, what warning and what advice would you give yourself and why?
several ideas came to my mind, which, if such a thing were possible, would change my life to a great extent and take me to who knows where.
But one piece of advice came to mind, related to making friends. "Don't try at all costs to be friends with everyone you meet. Don't try hard when you see that someone doesn't accept you, don't waste your energy in some company where you don't feel comfortable and beautiful".
Because all the friendships I made throughout my life, after I made these three friends in elementary school, were not as valuable as theirs.
I would say the following to myself: "Dear, these three friends, which you made before your 15th birthday, will probably be your greatest friendship support throughout your life. Never part with them, cherish and respect the friendship you have with them..
Do not consider all the new societies you enter as the same as theirs, because that will never be possible.
It's normal that you meet new people throughout life, make new friends, but don't let the time you spend on a new company deprive you of spending time with these three."
Because today I realized: I have no secrets with them, they know almost everything about my whole life, they know me better than my parents, brother or partner, because they have known me for so many years and we told each other about all the most important events in our lives that happened to us.
When I meet with them, I am not afraid of saying or doing something wrong. And if I do something like that, I know that I will not be misunderstood or that I will get their contempt.
They know me, respect me and have me whenever they need me, as much as I have them.
