I’m sure we have all heard of the phrase, “distance makes the heart grow fonder.” It’s one of those sayings that we choose to dislike just because we don’t want to think about not being with our loved ones. But as much as we hate to admit it, the saying could not be truer at certain points in our lives. It takes time to discover just how telling this phrase is.

Growing up, I’ve had quite a lot of close friends move away. As a kid, I lost touch with them only because most of the time our interactions had been facilitated by our parents. But as I grew older, a couple of my closest friends revealed to me that they were moving to another state.

After hearing this, there comes the initial feeling of emptiness, feeling as if you’re never going to see each other again. You promise each other that you’ll keep in touch, and sometimes you just don’t, and that’s how the world works. But when you do, the friendship becomes even more cherished.

Each time you see them, you are looking forward to the next time you will see each other again. It’s those times together that make you feel as if you’ve never been apart and as if nothing has changed.

Going away to college has also shown me how true this statement is. Not only have I grown closer to some of my friends after moving away from college, but I’ve become so much closer with my twin sister.

Before college, we spent a lot of time together, but most of it was because that’s all we knew. We shared a room, went to school together, and had the same friends, all of which we didn’t really choose. So when it came to choosing what colleges to go to, it didn’t even cross our minds that we may end up with the same one; we wanted that individual freedom.

Now, we are both closing out our sophomore year of college, and we are so much closer. We didn’t talk that often our freshman year, but now we text each other at least once a day and Facetime each other randomly. These frequent Facetimes consist of anything from random rants to advice sessions.

It took that time apart from my sister for me to realize just how lucky I am to have a built-in best friend. If I had gone to the same school as my sister, I don’t think we would have been as close as we are now. As ironic as it sounds, because we don’t see each other that much, we talk to each other more. Then when we do see each other, we choose to spend that time together.