I never imagined as of a year and a half ago, that I would find someone, none the less, my best friend, living 1600 miles away from me. But here I am, just someone from the small town of Hutchinson, Minnesota who has a best friend in Tampa, Florida, all with great thanks to an Instagram hashtag.
It's never easy having a friend live so far away from you and in a total different timezone. The struggle is always present and a constant reminder. Finding a time to talk isn't exactly the easiest, even though there is only an hour difference between us. Our mealtimes are at different times, our wake up times in the morning are different, and our sense of bedtime also adds to the list of things that are different for the two of us. These changes in time make it hard to find or create time to spend on the phone. Luckily, in today's day and age, there is a such thing as texting which allows us to keep a continuous small talk conversation flowing throughout the day. But that's exactly it, the conversation we share over texting is just small talk. We've found that some importance is lost when we talk about important things while texting. So now, we save most things for when we talk on the phone. Calling on the phone is nearly a daily thing, we find the deeper things to talk about that we usually don't discuss when just texting and our phone calls last much longer than just a casual fifteen minutes, but rather extend into the wee hours of the morning.
The concept of driving to your friends house is nonexistent when your best friend lives an entire twenty four hours away from you. I never realized how much I took a quick little ten minute drive to one of my friend's house for granted until I found myself wishing that it was less than twenty four hours between Minnesota and Florida. What makes up for this huge difference, it the concept of vacations. I guess paying a little more than just a ten minute drive is sort of an inconvenience, but I've got to make the best of the situation at hand.
Through the hardships and inconveniences of being so far away from one another and missing out on his daily life, there are a few handfuls of positives. Having Kyle live so far away is a struggle, don't get me wrong, but the thing that I actually do enjoy {hard to believe that there's something I enjoy about it, I know!} about him living so far away, is that I get to enjoy the time that we do actually get to share together a whole lot more.This ties hand in hand with the fact that vacationing is one of the best thing is one of us can do. When Kyle came to visit in June, we started a count down when there were still forty days left until he was here. I don't think that this would be exactly as celebrated if he only lived ten minutes away. Saying goodbye at an airport was the hardest things I've ever had to do and that is exactly what proves to me how lucky I am to have someone so close, yet so far away. The small things in our friendship get celebrated a whole lot more and are much more meaningful than I think they normally would if he were to live closer to me. A prime example is when we reached the different levels of bestfriends on Snapchat. We were definitely more excited about it than most people would have been.
The power and importance of communication that we share is solely what our friendship bond is built upon. We aren't friends because of the way the other acts or the way they dress, but instead, Kyle and I get along so well based upon the way we communicate with one another. They say that communication is the best part of a friendship and I think we take that meaning to a whole new level.
Although this may seem old fashioned, my favorite thing about having Kyle live so far away, is that snail mail actually becomes a real thing. I get to be lucky enough to send Kyle letters and packages in the mail that I actually have to take to the post office to have weighed, stamped, and mailed. The postmaster even knows me by name and knows the exact location of where my letters and packages are being sent to. She'll ask me how he's doing and after I tell her, she'll be sure to ask what's being sent, both questions are for her personal knowledge. Then, after, she'll ask me if there's any perishables, liquids, or potentially hazardous substances such as perfume or lithium batteries being sent, I press the red, "no" on the touch screen, hand over how ever much she tells me the cost is to ship, collect my receipt, and tell her to have a great day and that I'll see her soon. Then, during the next one to three business days, I wait until I get a text message with my tracking number, saying that my mail has been delivered at the address listed on the outside of the envelope or package. The small satisfaction of knowing that I went out of the normal and sent something the "old fashioned way" is so... extreme. I like having to put more thought into it because having someone so far away isn't something that everyone is lucky or fortunate enough to have and since I am, going the full nine yards is exactly what I intend to do.
The significance of missing someone so much has never hit me as hard as it does when I miss out on something important in Kyle's day-to-day life. I find that I miss having my best friend here even during times with no significant importance. I never thought it could ever be possible to miss someone as much as I miss my best friend who just so happens to live 1600 miles away from myself.
