Jim, I'm sorry to hear so many of your old friends from highschool have passed away so young! I'm still close with my best friend from elementary school, but she is married and lives almost 4,000km away, so even when we visit it isn't the same as when she lived a couple doors down or we roomed together at university. I think there is a reason we stay close with some of our friends and not with others. People change so much and while shared history can be great, I've found that most friends became adults I have nothing in common with now. One of my former close friends found religion in her 20s and likes to talk about being saved by Jesus - a bit too much. I guess I would rather be friends with people I can relate to for who they are now.
It is so much harder to make friends as an adult and have those close, trusting friendships. My close friends are now all married and consider their husbands their best friends - and are spread out across three continents! I'm considering deleting my Facebook account - most of the people on there I knew almost 20 years ago. I didn't know them that well then and I don't really know them at all now. We're just familiar faces. Next year is my 20th highschool reunion and that will be a good weekend to say hi and catch up, but then we'll go our separate ways and that will be that. I miss the fun we had as kids, but I think what I miss more is the feeling we had of our lives just beginning and having our futures ahead of us. Good grief, 20 years!