I was given the opportunity to spend this past Christmas abroad, visiting my best friend and her family. They live in a small part of Austria, near Innsbruck. People are usually taken aback when I tell them that I traveled by myself, to Austria, to visit my best friend.
The question of how we know each other immediately follows. I swear I’ve told the story so many times that it feels like I could've written it myself. But instead, I just find myself lucky enough to be one of the two people in this long-distance friendship.
A friendship that started while we were already living in different parts of the world.
So, to my best friend in the whole world, after visiting you for two weeks, here are some things that I want you to know:
This is not a normal friendship.
No one understands it, but why should they? It’s not normal. And if it was normal, it wouldn't be us. Most of the friendships that I have seen and been a part of have been based mostly on convenience and shared interests.
You have been the most inconvenient part of my life, and I mean that in the most beautiful way. It would be so easy for us to not talk to each other. We have a six-hour time difference, and we are both usually very busy.
But we choose to talk. We choose each other because although it is not convenient, caring for each other is easier than anything.
You have made me feel so special.
One of the hardest parts of this relationship is if one of us is ever going through anything difficult. When I know you are sad or stressed or anything in between, I would give the whole world just for a plane ticket to see you.
And you have shown me the same. I find it incredible that when I am having a bad day, no one notices as quickly as you do. And with every postcard, text or FaceTime, you make me feel important from what seems like a million miles away.
You have taught me so much.
Knowing you has taught me so much about the world. Your desire to travel is the reason that we became friends, and it has only encouraged me to be more interested in the world.
You have also taught me to think more open-mindedly because the world may not be exactly how I see it as. You challenge the way I see things, and you remind me to live for every moment.
My all-time favorite moments are with you, and I will always remember how each of those moments felt.
When we do get to see each other it is always better than the last time. And my favorite part of every visit is knowing that seeing you is what I look forward to most, but also that when we're together, it feels normal.
Hanging out with you is the most natural thing in the world. And we always create these moments that I know I am always going to cherish --
The moment when I know that you’re going to be on the other side of a door after about a year of not seeing each other.
The talking for hours and hours on that balcony in Hilton Head.
The screaming the words of “Barcelona” during a car ride or of “Drinkin Too Much” while walking the streets of Innsbruck.
The telling each other how much we love each other in the middle of SixtyTwenty and both of us starting to cry because of how much we mean it.
I’ll remember how all of it felt more than I'll remember anything else. And I think that’s pretty special.
You are everything that I love about this world. And I am so thankful to have a friendship like this one, because not many people can say that they have someone like you.
