Kids from the neighborhood where you grew up, and what happened to them (or idle speculation on what could have happened)

donnie was one of my closest friends growing up around ages 7-10 or so. i remember walking to his house to find his dad smoking beneath a miller genuine draft sign (might've been miller lite, don't know how hardcore old dad was) proudly displayed in the garage. he had more video games than i did, but we mostly played sports. he was probably the fastest of the dozen or so kids that played on our block, this wiry little bart simpson ass lookin kid, but whenever we'd play football, he'd always backpedal on kick returns and get tackled (grass) or touched (street) and lose yardage. around the time we were going to middle school, he moved near new braunfels (san antonio area suburb) and i didn't see him again until we were both freshmen at UNT near dallas. i think we found each other on this fledgling website called facebook. he did a double take when he saw me. he got really into bowling in the interim years, considered going pro. so of course we went bowling, and he was very good and i was not considering going pro so... we caught up and had a good time as far as i can remember. i transferred to a university closer to home and i didn't see him again after that.

wiry little bart simpson ass lookin

wait, you mean his face looked like bart simpson? or his hair, or his ass?

learn to south please

lawrence was between me and my brother's age, but he was shorter than the both of us. he really liked the astros at a time when no one in san antonio gave a shit about baseball. he went hunting and fishing with his dad a lot. his parents split up (after his mom cheated on his dad iirc?). they moved up to new braunfels, too. i saw him at utsa (where i transferred to) and i legit did not recognize him. puberty is weird.

Frreal

No idea where he is now but I always wondered what happened to Michael, the scruffy blonde circus boy who would spend 3 months of each year at our school when circus was in town. I had a massive crush on his anarchic little self but in hindsight I bet he turned into some horribly bogan carnie.

At least one turned out to be trans, probably more than that but how am I gonna find out?

I don’t really think of anyone as a “kid from the neighborhood”, more like “kids I went to school with, some of whom were more or less in my neighborhood”. For the most part I have no particular interest in knowing what’s up with any of them; I hope most of them are fine; I’m sure some of them are not.

my best friend from elementary school (pre grade 4) turned out to be a director, which was really cool to here as we used to watch mad max together and tons of flicks

As with silby, I have no great interest I knowing what has happened to most of the kids I grew up with during my grade school years. As soon as I got to high school, I stepped away from almost all of them, seeking to start new friendships. I have a mild curiosity about my high school friends, but not enough to spend any time trying to find out about them.

i moved from surrey to langley in grade 4 so i lost touch with everyone from elementary school, so by default i don't really know..most of my high school friends live in the same city as me now but they all have babies and are married and different social circles..usually if i see one i say hey but that is about it. i still have a few best friends from hs tho

i forgot i made this thread, shoulda bumped it when i found out me and frogbs were long lost pals from 1st grade who had not seen/heard from each other since he moved to wisconsin

Cool! Chuck Eddy had a primary school or maybe kindergarten pal he didn't reconnect with until they were both working for the Voice: RJ Smith, later author of acclaimed James Brown and Chuck Berry bios.

This kid Derek, this is from maybe first or second grade, I remember never being quite sure where I was supposed to know him from or why he decided we were friends, but he would show up at my house once in a while and I would be like, ok sure let’s play. He didn’t go to my school, he acted like we knew each other, but sorry Derek, I have no idea who the fuck you were. I remember he picked a huge green booger and ate it in front of me, and laughed. Thanks for the memories, Derek.

Another kid, my best friend from across the street until he moved away in second grade, grew up to be some kind of barefoot water skiing champion. Way to go!

xpost Awesome.
Lost touch with early childhood friends when we moved, then there were some I went from 4th Grade to high school graduation with, but the few I've stayed more or less in touch with are ones I met in 9th-10th grade or so. One guy bridged the gap from mid-middle school on into our 20s---I think of him when I think of Mikey and Nicky: it wasn't that bad, but coulda gotten there.

Exception proves the rule, like.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/was-a-notorious-mobster-behind-this-infamous-pittsburgh-heist

my friend robbie was (and no doubt is) a good kid but maybe i should have known something was up with his surly monosyllabic dad when robbie had literally *all* the star wars figures

also robbie's mom was beautiful and nice and there is no doubt an absolutely terrible story behind that

yeah bison that still blows my mind, not just that but the fact that you were able to recognize it. I don't think I'd recognize anyone I didn't know past 2nd grade at least.

Did you guys meet up again in person or just figure it out online?

total coincidence

there is an ILX zoom call that goes on every once in a while. for whatever reason during one of those first Covid weeks I decided to join. I had used Zoom once previously on a family call and couldn't think of a username so I just used my own name. which otherwise I'd never do. anyway on this call he asked me if I'd ever lived in San Antonio, which is a weird question to get, because we moved from there when I was 7! anyway it turns out not only were we in 1st grade together but we were also friends. I am pretty sure you were the only kid I actually played with. I'm not even sure how to tell the story because it's so hard to believe.

So strange...

small world, right? I'm in Tasmania right now, and a couple nights ago I was talking to a guy at a restaurant who has a best friend from New Zealand who just got married to an American girl who lives ... 15 minutes from where I grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania. like, what are the odds? there's a small chance I even know her family.

wait . . . where are you from in southwestern pa

West Chester.

lol southeastern!!!!!

(tired)