To ask how long you’ve known your longest/oldest friend?

[TabbyTigger]

I’m away with friends who we go away with every Christmas and summer, and they’re friends I’ve had since I was literally a baby. We’ve never thought twice about it but it turns out all our DPs/DHs/DWs think it’s impressive/bizarre!

So I’m now just curious - how long have you known your longest running friend?

46 years, met first day at nursery, been inseparable since.

Since I was 3 and she was 2. We aren't as close as sisters any more (lives took different paths) but still very fond of each other. 35 years!

62 years, we met on our first day at Grammar School in 1955 and are still friends though we only meet a couple of times a year. We were ‘best friends’ for many years. We are 73 now.
My best friends have been so since 1973 so 44 years.

One of my best friends Mum and my mum met when they were pregnant with us and 37 years later we are still really good friends and our mums are still friends, we live in the same village (didn't growing up) and our kids are friends too.

Lots of friends but have lived in loads of areas and never really settled.
Don't have a best friend. I have at the moment a couple of good friends. Known them 5 years but our children are heading in different directions and I see them less and less.

25 years. We were in neighbouring rooms in our uni halls and I met her on my first day. She was in the little kitchen trying to slice bread with a fruit knife. I fell a bit in love with her right then. She’s awesome and even though we live very different lives far away from each other, her very existence still makes me happy. 😊

35 years! We love one another like sisters.

My oldest friend is the little boy I used to play with when we were 3, over 40 years ago. I married him.

So many lovely stories!!

Like many here our parents knew each other wayyyy before any of us came along (met at school) and now our DCs are all the best of friends, even though we’re somewhat scattered (three still in the same borough but one in Belgium and one a few hours south). I love the five weeks we spend together in summer and the week over Christmas! (And we’re always visiting each other during holidays)

I really love this thread. And I hope you’ve all had fab christmases!

My oldest and best friend was my friend before we were born. Our parents knew each other a bit before they were pregnant. Then they went to the same NCT classes and had girls within a couple of months of each other. We went to the same primary, and same sixth form. And now we have children of similar ages. We also very similar in personality. Both v chilled and no drama. It makes me so happy that our kids play in the parks we did 😄

Our parents were neighbours & friends, so all our lives. We’ve been through a lot together & have had quite different lives since we grew up. I’ve lived in several different countries whereas she’s never lived more than 10 miles from where we are today, which is where we grew up 😊. I’m far closer to her 3 kids than my actual nieces & nephews. She’s like a sister in that I love her loads, but she also drives me nuts 😁.

My ‘best friend’ since we were 14. We live in different countries now & I miss her a lot. We are like chalk & cheese, but it just works. She’s my absolute rock.

With both of them their homes are my home and my home is theirs. Definitely the family we choose for ourselves.

My family and my friends have now been good friends for 4 generations including our children! I think it’s amazing and such a special bond to have!

My oldest friend is a wonderful person I've known since I was 4.

The person I considered my best friend, I'd known for 29 years. I made a shitty mistake and now she's cut me off, and I doubt she'll ever speak to me again. I fucked up... But it would take far more for me to cut her out of my life in the way she's discarded me. It's heartbreaking. I have to pretend it's not happened or I'd struggle to cope.

47 years. I'm 54 now. Never fallen out or had an argument. My 2 other close friends I've known for 37 and 35 years respectively

Since university, so 20+ years. I do have one friend from secondary school and one from primary, but we are not close anymore.

My two closest friends I’ve know since I was 15 and 28 (I’m 42).

My oldest friend since we were babies. Our parents were friends.

My brother married a woman who was a friend of mine from before he was born. Literally known each other all his life.

I have one good friend I've known since I was 10, but we didn't become close friends until we were teenagers. He's the only person from school/childhood I'm still in touch with. Like @olivers I've never had a best friend (had a fairly shitty school experience) and lived in a few different cities during early adulthood.

All my closest friends have been made in the last 3/4 years in the place I currently live, I've got better friends now than I've ever had in my life!

My parents weren't from the town I grew up in, they literally just randomly moved there before I was born because they liked the name, so they didn't have any pre-existing friendships there so I didn't have the friends-being-passed-down-generations thing people are describing.

25 years! 26 this summer. Met at our first job when we were both 16 and still class her as both my closest and oldest friend even though we’re live a few hours from each other now.

20 years. We met at an evening class when we both moved to the same city in our twenties. I am not in touch with anyone I was st school with.

Since I was 17 and she was 19. I'm crap at nurturing friendships due to ASC but she's always understood and loves me anyway, even when I fall off the radar for months at a time. That probably sounds like I'm opting out of my responsibilities as a friend and letting her do all the work, but it's truly not like that. I do my best to reciprocate and she understands that my version of friendship looks different to NT people's friendships. I love her very much.