You’re on the other side of the world, exploring bustling Chinese cities and accomplishing your dreams one day at a time. You’re making connections with other people, unique individuals with a myriad of backgrounds and personalities. You’re thriving on the other side of the world, and I am beyond proud of you.

Starting from that second grade classroom over 10 years ago, we hit it off right away: we went through those infamous, mischievous days of passing notes during class and giggling at the jokes only our immature minds could conjure up. We went on vacation together several times, and have made previous memories on the flawlessly sandy beaches of the Bahamas and the overwhelming yet fascinating paths of the Great Wall. We treat each other’s parents as our own and are essentially a part of each other’s family. We screamed for each other when college decisions, in fear and in excitement because we were going separate paths but we were excited to see where life would take us for the next few years.

More importantly, we would stay up into the wee hours of the night conversing about nothing and everything, a safe space where we shared our dreams and bore our hearts, simply because we were willing to break down our walls and be vulnerable around each other. We leaned on each other through some of the hardest parts of our lives, failures that resulted in tears and heartbreaks that resulted in devastation, because our support for each other had no conditions.

I’m sorry I never seem to have time to talk. Even when we do communicate, it’s sporadic and brief at best. We haven’t had the time to fill each other in about our lives, and there’s so much I want to share with you, my struggles, my accomplishments and my life. I’m counting the days until summer when you finally come home.

I love you.

And I miss you.