I know that sounds juvenile, and I honestly think I was in school the last time I had that problem.
I can count on one hand the number of good friends I’ve had my entire life. So I kind of like to hang on to them.
You can’t hang on to them if they don’t want to stay. The harder you try, the more desperate and sad you become.
Matbe it’s just a “fad”. There’s a group of us that have been buds for years. Periodically one or two others will briefly come into our fold or one of us will spend time away with new friends but the nucleus has always hung together for, well, about 25 years now. Give it time and take comfort in the fact they’ll have something new to contribute when they return.
It’s the other way around for me.
Nobody likes anybody better than anybody likes me. 
Seriously, though, I don’t generally think of it that way–like lieu said, it’s often just that new friends provide novelty and variety. Even if that’s not the case, each friend a person has provides something that no other friend can. Maybe you’re the “Secret Keeper” whereas someone else is the “Knitting Buddy”.
At any rate, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you concentrate on being a friend rather than hanging on to a friend, I doubt you’ll lose any. And if you do, POO on them! You’ve got US. 
Friendship is like anything in life–it has seasons, it changes with time. It’s not something someone holds, has, or possesses. It exists between free individuals, and those individuals can only affect–and effect–their own parts in it, and not the other person’s. Trying to do so is probably going to not work out so well.
Heh-heh…Auntie Em said “poo”. Poo’s funny. Heh-heh.
I’m not doing anything to “hold on”, nor do I intend to.
I was just curious as to what others have done in that situation. I probably should’nt have used the term “hold on”, because I didn’t mean it literally.
Re: What do you do when your friends find other friends they like better than you?
Find other friends you like better than them.
HBQ, I’m going through it too.
The girl who has been my best friend for 15 years has made a new friend, and I feel really left out.
She lives about 100 miles away from me, but we would talk on the phone about 2-3 times a week, but over the past 4 months I haven’t talked to her more then twice.
I think that part of the problem is that my 2 kids are a lot older then hers, they are still babies and mine are 7 and 9 and as a result we just don’t have that much in common anymore.
Her new friend has kids the same age as hers and they go shopping together and attend playgroups together almost everyday.
The last time we tried to hang out together, she had to bring her new friend and I felt like an outsider.
I can’t say anything to help, I just thought I’d let you know that you are not alone.
i hang with the best friend i’ve ever found: myself!
also found a new best friend, and married her. she gave me a new best friend, our son. If I never have another friend in this world, I wouldn’t mind. I’m doing just fine with what i got.
(except i have to play darts againt a computer for any kind of challange. but i can join a league and beat strangers! :D)
Tabietha makes a good point. Don’t limit yourself to a small group of friends. People change, and sometimes their interests/desires/needs aren’t the same as they were when you first became friends. I’m sure your interests today are different than they were 10 years ago, right? Find some people who share your interests now, and forge some new friendships.
I usually don’t like people enough to worry about whether they want to hang out with me or not.
Really, welby1? Don’t know about you, but I’d hate not to care about people enough to worry about whether or not they wanted to be friends with me. Hope I’ve been whooshed.
As to the OP, hopefully I’d let them go (if they wanted to) and find more friends. It’s equally likely to happen the other way around- that you change and find other friends you like better.
HBQ, sometimes this is more about your moving-on friend than it is about you. Making a new friend can be like a romance, given how thrilling it is to find things in common, to laugh at the same stuff, discover you have the same quirks. Some people really love that feeling, and they are always in search of it. I have a friend like that. She collects people. I finally had to stop being her so-called best friend because I got my feelings hurt so much by her constantly in search of more and more people to be friends with. Sounds childish of me, I guess, but it’s true.
You may be more like me–when it’s hard to make friends (maybe because of your nature, or boundaries, or whatever) what you treasure is the security and commitment of a good long-term friend. The thrill of newness doesn’t compare.
Falling in love is fun, but being in love is much, much better. At least, I like it better.
Yeah… yeah, that’s it!!! I have a couple of friends who does the same thing, only I’ve never been able to come up with such a good catch-phrase!
I don’t know if it’s because they like that initial “Oh my God! Me, too, totally!” commonality. I’ve always been under the impression that they “collects people” because it makes them feel important:
a) they are constantly busy, busy, busy with social engagements
b) they often confuse one friend (me, for example) with another (i.e., “Wait… didn’t you and I take that trip to Baltimore together…? That wasn’t YOU…?”)
c) they drop at least one new name per week (always prefixed with “My Friend” even if it’s someone they met on the internet two days ago), and then brush you off with an “Oh, you don’t know him/her” if you ask, “Who?”
I actually read an article about how people do this deliberately in order to convey a sense of “I’m the King/Queen” to onlookers.
Me, I don’t have the energy or the storage space to “collect people”. But, then, I thrive on time to myself (I can only take about three days of constant “companionship” before I start to lose it) so if I did have that kind of life (busy and in constant social demand), I’d be really, really, cranky (uh… no pun intended, Cranky) and nobody would like me anymore.
That’s exactly how this friend is. She’s like a people magnet. When I met her, she was going thru a hard time. I listened to her problems and tried to cheer her up. Now things are going great with her. Maybe I remind her of the bad time.
Anyway, I am moving on. I made a new friend recently, who’s more fun than she ever was. 