Dear friends who live much too far away,

Firstly, I love you. Secondly, I miss you. However, not particularly in that order. Sometimes I think I miss you before I love you, but really it's hard to say.

The truth is, I’m not sure how we defied the odds of thousands of miles. Somehow we forged a friendship from round trip plane tickets and the pure stroke of chance of meeting in the most unusual ways. The first time I saw you it was like “do you have Snapchat?” at first sight because we didn’t know if we’d ever truly see each other again.

But somehow after that moment you just kept popping up. Suddenly we went from strangers with strange accents to knowing too many of each other's embarrassing stories. The thing about meeting someone who lives so far away is that you’re not afraid to be yourself immediately because you may never see them again anyway.

So, you got to know the real me way too quickly and I’m sorry about that, but most of me is overjoyed because I got to know the real you, too.

I won’t forget the way you listened when I told you about my hometown. Or the way you tried to explain how your schooling system works. I love how suddenly we became normal to each other, and I began to question how I ever was able to live without you in my life.

Then the day came where I had to.

It was strange to not hear your laugh at first, but then days turned to weeks and I fell back into the routine of my every day. I hoped that I wouldn’t drain from your mind and fade into a distant memory of a girl you used to know.

They say that long distance relationships are hard, but I’d argue that long distance friendships are harder.

Thank you, though, my friends. You’re the first to come to my rescue when I’m having a bad day. You’re so disconnected from my everyday life and while that sounds like a bad thing, it became a perk. You’re a reminder that there is kindness outside of the miserableness and there is peace within a storm.

The fact is you are more likely to comment on my Instagram pictures. You are more likely to swipe up on my dramatic Snapchat stories that radiate sadness. You are more likely to respond to my Tweets.

SEE ALSO: The Importance Of Having A Long-Distance Best Friend

However, sometimes this social media world just isn’t enough. We’ve constructed it from likes, faves, retweets, and shares. It falls just short of being by your side through all the good and the bad. Hearing about the drama isn’t the same as living it with you.

So, I’m sorry that I cannot be there all the time for everything that goes wrong. I’m sorry I cannot celebrate all that goes right, too. I’m sorry I’m not always up to date on everything. And I’m sorry I cannot spend more time with you.

But I promise that I will be your friend. I will love you to the very end. I promise to keep up our Snap Streaks. I promise to cherish every minute of our Skype calls. (Even though time zones make it extremely difficult to find just the right time.) I promise to retweet you and comment “yessss” on every selfie you post. I promise to tell you I miss you every time I can just so you know that you’re never alone.

Most of all I promise that I will see you again, no matter what it takes. They made airplanes for a reason, and I will find a way.

I miss you, I love you. But yet again I don’t know in what order. In our friendship each goes kind of hand in hand, don’t you think?

Yours,

The girl who carries you with her everywhere she goes