School ties

come in many forms.
Someone I know recently posted a picture of herself wearing a tie. It was interesting because it brought back memories of actual school ties I had to wear.
In primary school in the city we had navy school ties. Mine did not match the brown tunic my mother had made for me. I hated the brown tunic. The tie was simply a nuisance. I would stand there with my back facing my mother as she whisked it around my neck, around and through itself and pulled it up into a knot with a little jerk.
We moved to a remote part of the state. There were no ties. There was not even a uniform. Most of the children could not have afforded a uniform of any sort. They came to school dressed in clothes that were, like ours, hand me downs. I went on wearing the brown tunic in winter and nylon "drip-dry" dresses in summer. The nylon dresses might not needed ironing but they were very hot and uncomfortable. The tunic was tight under the arms by then. Even I had managed to grow a bit.
And then I started my secondary school years. We had moved again. I now had a new uniform. The brown tunic was too small. The tunic was grey now. It was not new. My mother would not have thought that necessary but the tie was new. It was maroon this time. I went from maroon, to navy with white stripes, to blue, to brown striped with blue...and I have not worn a tie since then. I could still tie one, indeed I tied the Senior Cat's the last time he wore a suit - to his grandson's wedding. I did it the way my mother did it to me - from behind. The Senior Cat has two ties. One is his winter tie - his clan tartan. The other is his summer tie - which has his clan crest on it. There might even be another tie in the wardrobe - his university one. We gave the other ties away long ago. He does not like ties.
But there are other sorts of school ties too. I have none of those. I do not belong to any "Old Scholar's Associations". I do not have any friends from my school days. Brother Cat and Middle Cat are the same. The Black Cat has one friend from her school days. We simply went to too many schools to make lasting friendships in the days before social media made it easier to keep up contact with other people.
I wonder sometimes what it is like to have those sort of friendships. Are they real and lasting friendships? I know two women, now both ninety-something. They met on the first day of school and  they have been friends ever since...and I mean friends. They travelled to and from school together. They kept up contact as they married and had children. They and their husbands went on holiday together. Yes, they do know one another well. 
School ties like that are rare.  They need to be cared for too.