JFF : How Old Are Your Friends?

I'm all over the spectrum, myself. My BF is the same age, but most of my other friends are all over the place, age wise. Probably ranging from 18-65. Which is a very broad,wide range. I love and appreciate them all.

I have a few friends younger than myself, about 3 ladies my age (40s) that I'm close with, and then by and large the rest of my friends are 50 or better. I have to say, my older friends are very interesting (because of their life experiences) and certainly know how to have a good time! My younger friends are more 'we have something in common' (moms, teachers) and my older friends-- those relationships have expanded far beyond the original commonalities.

they range from 12-late 70s.
my BFF is about 10 years younger than i, in her early 40s.
probably most are like me, though, late middle age.
:) khairete
S.

My friends are all in their 40's like me. And I'm finding the more I speak to younger people, the more I do not agree with or understand them. OMG....I'm turning into my mom!! LOLOLOL

Well we are in our mid 40's, and we have quite a few friends our age, but we are feeling like we like older people more. Seems like we have more in common with them and enjoy their company more.

I'm in my 40's.
I have younger and older friends and same aged friends.
I also have friends that are Elderly. Grandparents.
Just is.
I get along with them all just fine.

Strange thing is, the friends who are younger, think I am younger than them.
One friend's son, told my friend "I wish Susan was my Mommy...." and the mom asked why. Her son said "She's pretty and younger than you and funner..."
OMG.
I am actually older than her.
Oops.

R. you are not old!
Its all in the attitude.
You got spunk.
And probably always will.
Age is just a number.

Mine range from about 10 years younger than me to 10 years older than me.... and then of course the ones that are my actual peers. Relating beyond a decade usually removes "friend" and puts you in some other category, not sure what the term would be for it tho..
Just lost a good one yesterday that was in the 10 years older than me department, I'm SO sad.

My two best friends are actually the same age because we were in the same class in high school. One is married, one is not, and neither have kids.

As for other friends, they're mostly either younger or older, not many right at my age. At least, that's what I assume. I've never actually asked the age of these people, but based on husband's time in (and the fact that they've been with their husband for a long time) I've made educated guesses.

Kind of like you. I had Tommy when I was 20 so I made friends with people who had kids the same age. I had friends that would comment they graduated in 68 and I would cheerfully comment I was born in 68. :p Then I had Andy and Genna, now I am the old fart.

As a rule maybe 5% of my friends are actually my age. 55% are older by more than 10 years, the other 40% are younger.

I have friends all over the age spectrum.
Age doesn't really make much difference to me and certainly doesn't make the person. I know some very immature people far older than me and I know many incredibly mature people younger than me.

Most of them are younger. Mostly because I began having kids at an older age than many, so the people I have met in my same circumstances (kids approx. the same age) have been younger.

Also, younger people tend to be a little happier and more optimistic. People can really become PITAs in their 50's and beyond, because old age makes people crabby. I'm becoming more of a PITA, myself.

I don't have any friends, just sisters. They're 56, 52, 49, and me, almost 46.

:)

I am 31. My close group of friends are 33-38. I have always been the youngest, but not by that much.

I spend quite a bit of time with my youngest sister (21) and doing so does occasionally make me feel old too. It also makes me wonder if I was that naive at her age. Probably, but the the self-awareness, like the common sense seems to come with age, so chances are I didn't know it.

Interesting question :-)

What is BTDT?

(I guess that makes me officially old?)

I'm in my 40s. My friends range from age 18 to about 85. There are a couple of younger teens in the mix as well...a young man I used to babysit when he was 2-5, some from teaching Sunday School. Probably some people older than 85 too, but I don't ask....

Works for me.

My friends are my age. I'm friendly with younger people at work, but they like to party and that has never been my scene. /so while at work we are friendly but not best buds on the weekend.

I respect older people and enjoy being with them, working on service projects together what have you, but they aren't my Friends.

to me Friends are people you hang out and
relax with, that you really bare your soul too and who are going through the same life experiences you are. So I have few friends

Dh loves to hang out with people 20 years older than himself, and he goofs around because he is the young whipersnapper of the group, DRIVES ME nuts, he used to hang around same age peers and ironically drifted away when they were still drinking and hanging at the bars, Its weird.

:-) :-) :-)

Tough to say. I've got a few nieces (not blood related) who are my friend's children. I suppose they are more like family to me than anything else, but I'll create a category, because, to hell with concision. In this category of friend's-children-my-family I'd say the starting age is 18 months old. I love those kids. A lot.

Then there are surrogate aunties. My mom's whole family is out of the country and my dad's whole family is dead, so I don't have extended family in my life. I'm a family gal though, and I adopt people left and right. LOOK OUT!! If you're not careful, I'm going to make you my cousin (more serious than joking). Upper age mid 80's. My mom's best friend, my "auntie" is someone who I talk to on the phone, hang out with on my own, and have to holidays. I suppose she's a friend, but more in a family category too.

Then acquaintances. All over the map. I like to talk. I LOVE to get people's stories. Keeps me not-bored. Like a treasure hunt, for personal goodies. This afternoon I learnt that my neighbor's grandma was a bootlegger and that her uncle died of cirrhosis. We hauled greenery and she gave me a brief family history. What fun (the history, not the alcoholism).

Friends, again, all over the map. I roll around in support groups, you know? So, the ones I go to for personal support, we get to know each other real' well, even if we don't hang out all the time. They are friends, just seldom-hang-out friends. I'm better at receiving late night emergency calls than I am making them. So they are not in the "I'm crying and hate to cry but want to talk so I'm calling" category. I got folks who are 18-seventies in there. Love it. Kind of my favorite thing about being a screw up :-)

Then there are my very, very best friends. My girlfriend down in Oakland, she's a year younger than me. Two same-same age. One ten years older. Another three years older. These are the people who have been like sisters, and who can tell me before I can, what's going on. It's funny, because a lot of us have grown up together. Not in the sense that we went to school together or anything, but because the last decade has brought about such a great deal of loss, recovery, and laughter. Shoot, we were all pretty messy when we started kickin' it. And now, we're like, HBO messy instead of Lifetime messy.

Growing up my friends were always much, much older. Looking back on it, I kinda wish I hadn't been in such a rush to grow up. Turns out you miss a lot of pretty sights when you're running from the past.

Now I'm in college and it's very challenging. Not academically, unfortunitly, but socially. I don't understand this world. I'm a jump in and sink or swim; let's get our hands messy and build something kind of gal. College seems like a place that a lot of young people go to to find themselves. Like a place to practice for real life. I droped out of school to find myself. I have never been very good at practicing for real life, or jumping through the hoops to get to the goal. Deep breathes. It's only week one. I'm sure it will get better and science is SO MUCH FUN! Being a returning student is such a trip, and I'm not excited about being the oldest. Wish I was, but I feel uncomfortable. That's the truth.

Every one of my previous best friends were almost exactly 6 years older than me. It just happened that way for some reason once I got out of high school.

My most previous best friend was actually about 10 years younger than me and it was a world of difference for me.

She is going through a divorce and is now not speaking to me because I "let her down" by not filling her van with gasoline...we're on SSDI raising 2 of my 7 grand kids and she is being divorced because she refused to go to work. He made over 100K per year so she lived a very blessed life. She could spend whatever she wanted and had little or no restrictions on her spending.

It is hard for me to just buy groceries and she wanted me to fill her van so she could make a trip out of town. I clean my FIL's home to get that gasoline card, we have a soft limit of a few hundred dollars per month on it, he doesn't want to get a big surprise. If we let him know we're wanting to do a road trip or something we plan ahead a couple of months so he can pay the bill off each month. So filling up her van would have put us over our limit by at least $80.

It's hard to see the big picture and your friend not have any idea there is even a picture to begin with.

Most of my friends, real friends, are my age. I do have a couple older and a couple younger.

I was like you. When I was single and then just starting to date my then husband, I was the youngest in our group of friends by far. When we moved to California and I went to business school, I was squarely in the middle, age-wise. Now most of my friends are moms, and I am usually in the upper end of the age spectrum. I don't know that I have any friends who are still in their 20s, but a few are just barely out of them.

I prefer older friends because I do not want to hear about Beyonce and Paris Hilton. I like friends who are selfish with their time--not babysitting grandkids every weekend.

I am 35. I have two good friends....my "besties" who are 38 and 46. I have a couple of other friends who I chat with at soccer games and whatnot and they are all 35-40. I am not the youngest, but I don't have a lot of people I chat with that are younger than me OR new parents.
I go to many story times and playgroups with my baby and people are often shocked that I have a 10 year old and 7. I hear them talking about how they are raising their kids and I kind of laugh a bit...they are new! But, we are just friendly....not friends...yet!
L.

I will be 32 next week and most of my friends range between 26 and 37. My best friend is 32.

My closest friends are around my age: late 30s to early 40s. (Yes, I'm in the early 40s range!).

My moms group friends are way younger than me by ten years.

It's all relative.

I am 42. My four closest friends are also 40-43. I do generally relate best to the elderly and children.

I have several friends who are older than I am (in their 40's and 50's), a large number who are the same age (college and high school friends), and even a few who are quite a bit younger. On average, I'd say my friends are the same age I am, with several beloved outliers. ;)

First, my husband is 17 years older than me. We're friends with a couple that is 10 years younger than me (their oldest is 1 day older than my oldest, her youngest is 3 months older than my youngest, we have similar interests, it's fun). My 2 best friends, I went to school with, so we're the same age. Another couple we run around with and go out with are 5-7 years older than me, and we sometimes go out with my husband's coworkers who are 5-10 years younger than me. I have 2 very close friends who are 13-20 years older than me, so we're all over the place as far as age goes.