"There's a KYLE XY marathon on today, want to binge watch it for the next three days?"
...
"Be over in ten."
That was back when life was easy and "adulting" felt like centuries away. How did we get here? Having to plan months in advance just to make the trip to see one another. How did we get so old, so fast? Sometimes I'd kill to go back to the days when our biggest problems were trying to determine the best quotes to go in our info pages on AOL.
HANNA, HE ADDED MY INITIALS TO THE BOTTOM OF HIS INFO.
She'd scroll all the way down frantically trying to see KW fill the tiny box.
We found amusement out of things that were never meant to amuse you. This was our lives until the shitty reality of adulting found us states apart.
To My Long Distance Best Friend,
This ones for you.
First, let's just get the obvious out there-I miss you. I miss living close enough to each other where having to drive to and from your house to mine in the matter of a night wasn't a problem. I miss not having to miss you.
Saturday night's aren't nearly as fun without our late night Full House shows while heating up oodles and noodles at 1am.
I'm stuck between being happy for you for having opportunities call you to a place where you're genuinely needed, and being devastated that where those opportunities are located are somewhere other than my backyard.
There was never really a question to if we'd be okay when distance got in the way, but I don't think we ever needed to be asked. We had the understanding that we'd always be in each others lives even if that consisted of a few days every couple months.
No, it's not the same.
Going from 10 minutes apart to 24 hours is extremely different.
It doesn't just suddenly become easy, and everything after that flows along smoothly. The actual truth is that facetiming and texting are not the same as 10 minute long tickle and scratch time while watching scary ass movies that have a horrible story-line but make for a hell of a night.
You don't randomly become accepting of the fact that a "state away" best friend can't-last minute-decide that a shopping trip is necessary because the test she had studied for the night before didn't look promising. Those things just stop cold turkey after being so close for so long. So yeah...shit gets hard.
But you do it.
You don't quit because it gets difficult. You don't stop talking because it's easier, and you surely don't forget because it's convenient. You tough it out, remember to call your best friend every so often to check in-even if it means setting an alarm. You go over as soon as they're back home, and you put aside the busy shit in your life to see her.
The thing is,
you aren't in my backyard anymore. You aren't easy to go see when I want to, and it's not the same as it was in high school. I keep thinking I'd go back if I could, but then I remember all we still have yet to experience together.
The dreams we had as kids to grow up, get married, and have children around the same time so our babies could be best friends too.
Sure, it's hard right now. Distance does that to people, and it's to be expected. No one ever said every friendship out there would be easy to maintain, but if they're worth it, you'll make the time.
Whether you're 5 minutes away, or in another country, I will always make time for you. Each time we are reunited, our friendship will pick off right where we left it, and I think we're pretty lucky for that. Thanks for never giving up on me even when we weren't in one anther's back yard, and thanks for walking into my life in the first place.
I'll see you real soon, and if not? I know I'll see you eventually, and that's good enough for me.