Online group for friends from 6th grade

Recently some old friends decided to move ahead and gather all the friends from 6th grade and beyond. They created some online communication group and managed to add most of us. Cheap chats and small talks on the group brought a heap of funny reminds and laughs, but also made me re-think something that was locked in my mind for years. A reflection about my youth and childhood and how and what all those years contributed for what I am today. A friend once said he was so pleased about those times but would be unfair to say he doesn't regret from many things he could have done differently. And I sole agree. I think I should have done couple things a lot different. Most of them, in my case, behavior-wise.

I think I was a different kid from the mainstream. I never liked the way on how lectures were taught, for example. I've not always agreed with some explanations and/or how colleagues and professors explained things. I think the lack of communication skills in most of times drove some actions that could and should be avoided. I believe those actions, for several times, expose a side of myself that I'm not necessarily proud of. People's perception about myself was biased and mostly perceived as an extremely anti-social and "grumpy" individual that didn't accept a no as an answer. That's partially true. Since I understand myself as someone who can think, I've never wasted my time to give an opinion that could be irrelevant. I rather stay quiet than actually provide a non-sense answer just for the sake of saying something. And that's ok I believe, since it seems to be something really irrational that I don't really have much of control. However, what I regret is that I've never been told how to do it appropriately on how to deal with situations like that. Parenting is hard thing and my parents always told me what was right or wrong, but I think the how was a missing point.

Why I'm saying this? This was part of my morning reflection. I think what I can do at this stage of my life is to think towards my son, and make sure the boy won't get trapped into these little things. As small as it should be, I still have memories of situations after a burst, I immediately regret. And I believe this is harmful. Have said so, I obviously don't want my son getting into that type of situation thus, for more that it may hurt my inner feelings, I believe this must be well addressed in the next couple years.

Hell yes. Those were probably the most fun years of my life and definitely taught me a lot. Re-encountering those friends was a blessing for sure. So much fun, but also a wake up call to do the right thing in the future.

I hope we manage to keep in touch and bring the best for us.

[Interestingly two groups have been created. One where all of us participate. And another one for just the close acquaintances. On the general group I can clearly see that not everyone has changed much. Some still pretty crazy, some of them pretty easy going people apparently, as they always seemed to me. Would this be just my perception based on the memories of my youth or crude reality? Time will tell us, hell yes!]