I used to brush off relationships that stemmed from social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram. I'm not going to lie, I still believe these real connections are pretty rare, be it just a friendship, or an actual romantic relationship. There is something special about a palpable relationship where you can have a conversation face-to-face. There really isn't anything that can replace this type of connection. However, I now believe there can be a special bond that doesn't require physical closeness. It requires a few things: Two similar, like-minded personalities, timing and availability, and openness.

I met Kate (and when I say "met," I mean "first spoke to on Facebook") in the summer/fall of 2012. She was a friend of another best friend of mine (Hi, Olivia!) and somehow I think we started complimenting each other like peppy seventeen-year-olds do and eventually we started texting and having real conversations. I honestly don't remember what caused us to open up to one another, but it wasn't long before we went to each other for advice from time to time. Kate gives really good advice.

For a while, it was a nice situation where I could come back to Kate and get a fresh perspective on anything going on in my life. However, as we realized we had more and more in common, the significance of our friendship really grew. She has been trained in music and vocals for years, and I'm the daughter of a 70's and 80's rock 'n roll drummer-turned-Church-guitarist. I've always been incredibly shy about my passion for singing, but Kate was the first person I trusted to really listen to me sing and give me advice. I'm nowhere near as talented as she is, but I do believe that because of her, I have gotten better.

Like I said, no matter what, it is going to be hard to have a friendship with someone without physically seeing them. FaceTime remedies some of the issues that distance creates. It's one thing to be able to sit behind a phone and text someone with hours between messages, but it is a whole other situation to talk in real time, with the possibility of stumbling over your own words. This is another reason I know Kate is one of my best friends. Whenever we FaceTime, it's like I'm joking with any of my friends I've actually met. We can be super weird and make one another laugh or talk about real emotions. FaceTime or Skype certainly provides an open door that distance had previously kept shut.

Finally, any relationship with another person would be nothing without similar interests. We have music, but we also like a lot of the same TV shows, food, clothes, etc. We don't have conventional hangouts like crashing in one another's basements watching movies, but we have watched Netflix together at the same time, which I really think is the next best thing. We can still fangirl over beautiful actors and cry about the saddest scenes in "Lost" together.



Deep down I think it's the little things like this that keep us so tightly bonded with one another. Because we are interested in the same things, we quite possibly have similar ideas about life itself. Perhaps our similar faith is another important thread that keeps us so tightly woven.

I have never met Kate in person, and thanks to being on a college student budget, I won't have a chance in the foreseeable future. That doesn't make this friendship pointless. If nothing else, our friendship is proof that someone will have the capacity to love us one day for our souls, not any material reason. However, it does give us something even more beautiful right now: Hope and ultimate faith. I know someday I'll meet one of my very best friends.

Until then, we will do our best to be just like any other friends these days.