Your name comes up on my phone no less than 22 times a day; 12 of those being tags in hilarious videos or lives of people we will never be as cool as. We are constantly begging each other to fly one way, drive the other, or meet in the middle, and we always have pictures and videos to post months after we aren't together because we took so many that we're still out of storage to this day. (But it's not our fault we need a nice balance of candids, soft smiles, artsy walls, strutting through suburbs, and of course ridiculous filters.)
All of these necessary procedures make the indefinite distance apart feel more like a small leave of absence. After all, there was a grander time of life when we went grocery shopping together, stalked people on social media, and binge watched Netflix until one of us fell asleep. Somehow that all ended like a favorite book you can't put down, but you read it too fast and don't know what to do now that it's over.
Even though, in this season, updates on my life range from sporadic texts with names and insta-feed screenshots of people you haven't met, to novels of why I feel like a lazy cow for not working out, I love that I always have an outside opinion, a reference back to my identity in Christ, and someone that understands.
Our "hang outs" may include snap chat videos of road trips and dramatic voice memos, but I always feel like you're with me. I hate that I can't see what you're seeing and meet who you're meeting, but as soon as you start to describe them in that "I see right through their games" way, I feel like I know them now too.
I've decided that it's because while we did once live in the same town, a lot of important life happened. You accepted my past, embraced the present, and helped me envision my future (Yes, that includes relentlessly searching for cheap plane tickets to foreign countries.)
One day when everything we've hoped and prayed for comes true, you'll look over and say "I told you it would happen," and I'll roll my eyes and smile. But until then, the miles aren't so bad because at least I have someone to miss. At least someone is waiting for me to finish the story I put on pause because I had to go take a calculus test. There is always someone waiting to hear what I did today, what kind of coffee I drank, and how I feel about Nick becoming the new Bachelor.
To understand and be understood is one of life's greatest treasures. To be just passionate enough to block my ex, but not too dramatic to fuel my fire, is a position that takes a little bit of gusto, a whole lot of wisdom, and some time to master. Well, my long distance best friend, we've got all the time in the world.
