I believe in love in many different iterations, as I’m sure you might. Romantic love, familial love, but there's also the love you have for your best friend.

The problem with meeting your best friend in high school is that after you graduate, things start to get a lot different. You keep growing, but you stop growing together. We chose to go to different schools, which was the right choice for both of us. But that came with its challenges and unanswered questions about what was coming

People grow up and often apart. I have moved around a lot in my lifetime and I actually appreciate that for who it has made me today. Despite that, I can still honestly say that I hate moving. I've done it enough to tell you that it never really gets easier. Silently, and almost immediately, I became convinced that the friendship I had grown and fostered with her was doomed. I had seen it happen before, I had already lived this part out a thousand times over. You move, and you stay close for a month, and then a year, but then it all sort of drifts away.

And that's how I acted. I ignored her more than I’m proud to admit, I threw myself into school, I met new people, and I fell in love with college, as so many college freshmen do. And all of that was great, all of that was amazing, and all of that is something I highly recommend for college freshmen. It wasn't until thanksgiving break, when our families decided on a whim to celebrate together, that I saw her again. It was as I had predicted. It was awkward, we didn't have the same things in common, and we were different. I hated it. The person who I loved and cared about so much was not going to be my best friend anymore.

I'm grateful she didn't see it that way.

She fought with me, for me even, sat in front of me, and we cried together because we both admitted the things we had done wrong. I told her I was afraid of what was coming and she told me I simply wrong. Being apart doesn't meant you can't be friends anymore. We talked and cried and told each other everything we hadn’t gotten the chance to say first semester. I remember it as one of the worst and best nights we’ve ever had together.

I’ve dated a few guys, “talked” to a couple more, fallen for a handful of others, but I can honestly say I’ve never loved anyone the same way that I love my best friend. She’s a comforting presence, someone I lean on wildly, talk to whenever, and I am the same to her. It’s the least selfish relationship I’ve ever had. I want the world for her, and the best part of it is that I know she feels the exact same way.

There is not a perfect moral to this story. I don't even know if it's one that you'll find relatable and intriguing. The main message I think I am trying to get though by writing it is that, when you care about something enough, distance isn't going to get in you're way. And I think I’m really trying to argue that long-distance relationships, although trying and difficult and occasionally painful, with the right person are well beyond worth it.

I realize as well as I have written this that friendship is the most incredible thing we get in this lifetime. We get to learn and love people and that's so weirdly cool. I stand here today, going into my sophomore year of college, and I know that my best friend is never not going to be there. You can’t keep everyone in your life, but the right ones are well worth the effort.