Most of my friendships began through my parent's friends' kids. Until I was old enough to use the phone myself, they would schedule my "play dates" and all outside-of-school social activities. I definitely took for granted how easy that made my life because it was like having my very own social coordinator. They planned the activities and I went along with it, no questions asked.

Then I began elementary school and started making friends on my own. Now I was old enough to call my friends on their house phone and ask them if they wanted to hang out. This became the primary form of communication until everyone in my generations started getting cell phones starting in middle school.

This is when everything changed and the way in which I maintained my friendships was completely revolutionized. In 6th grade, I finally had a phone that I could text on and there was no turning back from there. From there on out, the amount that I texted a friend was a direct correlation to how close I was with them. If we texted every day, we were best friends, if we never texted then were we considered friends at all?

Looking back now I realize I was in constant communication with some people that I haven't spoken to in years, while others who I never had this phone relationship with have stayed great friends. There were some friends that I didn't speak on a normal basis because only a catch up session was needed once in a while in order to maintain the friendship.

Having grown up I now know that being a good friend and having a good friend has nothing to do with how many photos you have posted together on social media or how many texts I send per day. Different types of friends serve specific purposes and this is not only to have someone to talk to at all times of the day. This is not to say that friend you text and call all the time isn't important, but if I could go back now I would tell my younger self not to count out those who were there for other reasons.

It is also important to acknowledge the friend you go to whenever you need relationship advice, and the friend you go to when you need to be cheered up, and the friend that really fun to go out with. Its impossible for one person to possess all these qualities, which is why I try to value the qualities that each friend has to offer rather than to look for the ones that they don't. What seems to be the weakness of one friend can end up being the strength in another.

Having to maintain friendships from all three realms of my life-- camp friends, high school friends and college friends-- has proved extremely difficult as I have jumped from place to place in my life. Being in Europe and in a completely different time zone has made it especially difficult to keep up with the daily activities of these friends. I have come to appreciate that we are all leading separate lives, and the times that I set aside to catch up with them have become more special, the busier our lives get.

So although the 6th grade version of myself wouldn't consider these long distance friendships to be the best ones, my current self knows they are more valuable than ever.