Fuck it, I’m gonna skirt the rules a little and say me: I’m alive past 25 years old.

My punk show / skater buddy went hard into religion, which led to apparent right-wing politics.

not a friend, but the biggest asshole drug dealer at my school and his trailer park family ended up being Mayor of Toronto and Premiere of Ontario.

I just assumed they would be incarcerated by 21.

I’m the biggest one in my friend group to go a different direction.

But there’s one guy who I was decent friends with. He’d been the most vocal atheist at our catholic school, went off to a prestigious college in California that happened to be Christian. The few times I saw him after that he’d been getting over his proto-incel mindset he’d had since high school, was increasingly progressive and feminist and starting to get women’s attention. Then he disappeared, last I heard he’d started a philosophy degree and converted to a form of conservative Christianity, but that’s just a rumor.

There’s also the friend who’s manic-depressive and had been increasingly into drugs through high school and as he was failing out of college due to mental illness. He was a progressive communist and atheist since we were like 12. Hell he was the person to break me out of the Catholic anti choice stance when we were teenagers. Well he had a bad trip in our early 20s, and he found a very different Jesus than the other friend. He’s done with psychedelics and never touched the hard stuff. He kept his political beliefs though, just found Jesus with them. Wound up finding a career that makes him happy in landscaping, and he’s engaged now to a woman who seems really good for him. It’s been too long since we’ve seen each other, he’s a good man even if he did wind up the sort of guy that’s really into sports.

My other two friends from high school more shocked me by how they stayed the same. I love them both, they’re good men, but also little growth in their 20s.

The sweet, shy, quiet band girl ODd on heroin sophomore year.

The biggest shock was a guy I met in first grade and was friends with all throughout school. We went our separate ways for college but saw each other on breaks. He went on to grad school, then med school and residency after that and I didn’t see him much. I was supposed to see him and a bunch of other friends at wedding but he didn’t make it. We callled him and gave him shit about it and he kinda played it off.

One day a year or so later my mom asked if he was done with residency and was a full doctor yet. I wasn’t sure so I looked on Facebook and his was about as barren as mine the last 10 years. Did a search, and nope not a doctor, got caught trying to pick up a 15 year old.

I never expected anyone I grew up with to ever be on the wrong side of the law for anything more than a misdemeanor.

He wasn’t a friend, but he was an acquaintance. There was this guy named Robbie, who was dating the principal’s daughter, and everything seemed bright and shiny for them.

They were like our small school’s power couple, Robbie and Shannon.

After high school, Shannon came up pregnant, and everyone was excited and startled because they hadn’t gotten married yet, and then it came out that the kid wasn’t Robbie’s.

Robbie took a nap on a train track.

The weird thing is, he survived being run over by a train. It was a huge event in our suburb.

But then he went deep into drugs and just fell apart. I don’t think he made it to 27.

My best friend was a fucking degenerate in high school. Drugs, alcohol, fights, got his girlfriend pregnant at 16, was in and out of jail for all kinds of stupid shit… I fully expected him to die young or end up doing hard time.

He’s now a department head at a very large university, even has his own published textbook. I’m incredibly happy for him.

A friend I met as an adult. He had a pretty rough life growing up, his family was homeless and roamed around a lot, he was supposed to be ‘homeschooled’ but was really taking care of his parents during that time, so he never really had an education, obviously never went to college, etc.

He fell into learning programming as a teenager and started working when he was 16 as a web programmer. Now in his 30’s, he makes more money than anyone I’ve personally known and I’m so freaking happy for him. A lot of bullshit people like to brag that they’re ‘self made’ when they own companies, or are CEO’s, etc. And this guy is like the most humble, kind and well adjusted person I’ve ever known, and he did it all himself. Super greatful to be his friend and have him in my life.

A closeted gay acquaintance that I knew from shared extracurricular activities, is now a judge who ran as a Republican because that’s the only party people will vote for in the redneck town we grew up in.