Your best friend(s) in grade school...

[Hector]

No not since I left NYC in 1979. But Hector, I wanted to know some of the stuff you did as kids. Funny stories? Mishaps?

Most of the real fun stuff starts at junior high.

Grade school is pretty much kinda the norm...ride bikes...hanging out at the cafeteria eating out of our metal lunchboxes...Halloween gatherings...checking each others' Christmas presents...getting beaten up by girls (after playing a practical joke on them, lol)...snipping slugs' antennas with scissors (and pouring salt over them)...playing in the backyard with our plastic toys soldiers...pretending to be scientists in the garage and start mixing stuff like water with laundry detergent with motor oil (hoping to create some type of monster, lol)...spitting contests...fart challenges...going to Hayward Plunge in swim at the giant indoor pool...camping...you know...normal things boys do...lol...

[samurainoir]

My best friend from grade three is currently crashed out on the futon opposite my desk in our Studio/Office.

He was always the kid with the wildest imagination and was into the coolest stuff.

He's one of the most naturally gifted artists I know and I'm delighted that my job these days involves selling his skills.

I liked Star Wars and Superheroes, but he introduced me to Micronauts, Shogun Warriors, and Godzilla in both toy and comic book form.

As teenageers, during a time when I was playing Rugby and discovering girls, I still found time to hang with him and he got me into Heavy Metal Magazine, Underground Comics and Anime. I tried my best to play D&D with him, but just didn't have the patience. We'd also stay up all night watching dumb horror/fantasy/scifi movies and Twilight Zone Marathons.

I'll daintily skip past the mind altering quasi legal university years, and the grown up years.

Now we're trying once more to do all the cool stuff we talked about doing as kids (while balancing out the paying grown up work).

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I have a buddy of mine I've known since 1976. Most of our days were spent playing sports or games. When Atari came out, his family got a console and I don't think my mom saw me much at all for a few months.

[torgospizza]

...and even exchanged emails...but was about it...and nothing came about it...sometimes the closeness just kinda goes away with some people.

Everyday life just has a way of doing that to people. I have friends right here in town I haven't seen in ages, because I deal with people so much at work, when I get off I just want to unplug my brain for a while. It's totally nothing against them; it's me BSing myself all the time I'll get with them in a couple weeks. I just get sidetracked.

My best friend from elementary school Chris and I got together maybe six months ago for the first time since highschool. It was great catching up with him. The guy taught me how to tie my shoes properly in kindergarten, even. We used to play with (surprise) Mego Trek and Apes, and in junior high we used to raise Cain with BB guns in our neighborhood. Salt of the Earth guy.

[Hector]

Yeah...that's how it is sometimes.

[CrimsonGhost]

I have 2 friends from before grade school that I would consider best friends and I'm still in contact with.

My friend Larry Dean and I have been friends since such an early age that I don't even remember meeting him. He was a year older, but his grandma lived across the street from me and we went to sunday school so I guess that's where it all started. He was into cars and probably had 5 or 6 bikes throughout grade school. We were constantly building ramps and jumping our bikes over stuff. My bike was old and weighed a ton, so I could never really get too far in the air, but he was like Evel Knievel. And by that I mean he crashed as many times as he landed successfully. Remember those bike pedals with the spikes alone the front and back of them? He managed to cut thru most of his Achilles tendon with his bike pedal on one spectacular crash. I wasn't there, but it happened in front of my house just after my mom took me to a dentist appointment or something. Anyway, we were both into Star Wars, KISS, comics, pro wrestling,Bruce Lee movies, Super Powers figures. He got me into cars, football, and is the reason I drive the way I do.

My friend Aaron started out the same way I guess, I don't remember meeting him either. He was a year younger and I know we went to Sunday school as well. His parents were divorced and he had a ton of toys. He would have Chrismas with his mom, Christmas with his dad, and then Christmas with his grandma. Man, I was jealous! He had Megos, Star Wars, and giant bins of Fisher Price adventure people. He had the Kenner Alien and I think the 12" Chewbacca and Darth Vader. It was always fun to hang out at his place. We got into Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as well as a ton of other RPGs. He was a writer and was possibly the best dungeon master ever. He could come up with things on the spot and it was always entertaining. We painted miniatures and got into stuff like Dr Who, Blakes 7, and Red Dwarf.

Man, those were the days... I could go on and on.

[Hulk]

I am blessed that I am still close friends with 8 guys that I met by the age of 10, half of them by age 5. I see all of them at least once every two years or so, and some annually, despite living no closer than 2000 miles from any of them. 4 of them were in my wedding party. Friends for life, it's a good thing.

[boynightwing]

My friend Kris. He was my first friend. He was a few years older then me and also went to French Immersion instead of regular school. We hung out after school and played He-Man, or Transformers.

He taught me how to swear.

Funny story...there are many as he's a funny guy. However one I can think of involved his evil older sister stealing his bathing suit while we were swimming. He ran after her to get it back but got stung by a bee...in a place you don't want to get stung. (I think he was about ten at the time. I was probably eight years old)

We're still good friends today. Right now he's in China teaching English. I now own his Mego Spider-man. He gave it to me when his mother made him purge all his toys. His mom was/is the scariest Bit-- you'll ever meet.

[DocDrako]

When I was in elementary school, 3rd grade maybe, I was of small stature compared to most kids. I remember these two girls, Debbie & Sandra, who decided to protect me from the bigger kids. Debbie and Sandra were both tall and I guess they had some maternal instinct going on or something. I didn't see Sandra much after that year, but Debbie was in one of my later classes and we even shared a class or two in middle school. Debbie was probably my best friend in elementary school because she's the only friend I really remember. Plus we got in trouble for talking too much in class.

I was drugged up alot then (juvenile RA) which is probably why my memory is so bad, but luckily Debbie's father owned a mechanic shop and still does I believe. I should really get in touch with her again. Friends are few and far between for me, and it would be nice to talk to someone I have a history with.

Fun thread! Thanks for the memories!

[VintageMike]

As far as grade school years there were two. One was my friend Robert. I believe he was 6 and I was seven when we met. We shared a huge love love of Superheroes, comics and Star Wars. He used to live down the block and actually moved about 45 minutes away at a young age. In a way in was better because that gave us an excuse to entire weekend sleepovers. Our friendship lasted until about ten years ago partially my fault and partially due a radical change in his life. Around 11 or 12 years ago he super serious about Religion and moved to Isreal to study and become a devout Jew. During that time he married and had a child. I went to the party his family threw when he came home and he gave me his address in Isreal to write but it was doomed from then on. I mean really write as he had forsaken all technology and most everything most of us would consider normal. Every so often I check online but always find outdated info.
Side note, while on one hand I was glad he was happy I blame his parents for this.
They were always pushing more and more religion on him. I'm sure they felt stupid about that in the end consider their son and grandchild were living in dangerous area.
My other friend Adam I met in the sixth grade. Similar intrests again with comics especially being a common bond. We stayed friends for many years but for various reasons he grew very unreliable was we got older. Like not showing up for many things, many broken promises, I'd also not hear from him for long stretches of time. Around 1993/94 after having basically moved on because he this, he called, desperate. Without going into details he was suicidal so I listened and gave him one more chance. That chance also had a provision, if he disappeared again that was it, for good. About a year later that's exactly what happened and took my words seriously as I did not hear from him again until a couple of years ago. He contacted me on Classmates wanting to catch up. Still being leery I softened and replied. Then suddenly he was gone again only to contact me last year. Again I gave him the information to contact me (as a test) and again nothing.
As an aside I met my current best friend when I was a junior in high school and he was a sophomore.