True best friends are hard to find. It takes time, effort, lots of ups and downs, and many hard situations to really see who's there for you. Once you find yourself a real bestie, though, you may have to deal with one of you moving pretty far away. It's a common but very real problem with childhood friends. We pick different colleges, maybe even in different states, that put the test of miles to the friendship. My best friend of 10 years moved across the country for college, and it changed our entire relationship.

We talk more now than we did before.

While I haven't seen her in almost a year, we actually communicate more. Phone calls, Skype calls, hourly texts in our group chat. Because we are so far apart, we tell each other more details about our days than we did when we lived ten minutes from each other. Even on the days when we talk solely by sending each other memes, we are still thinking of the other person.

I value her friendship more.

When you grow up with someone, you get used to them always being around. This makes it easier to take them for granted or forget to appreciate them. Having them be gone for so long makes all the little things, like trips to get food or random hangouts, seem even more special.

I know her better.

College changes people, there's no doubt about that. Helping each other navigate undergrad has given me a new perspective on how she deals with life and common problems like boys and grades. I also have a totally new respect for pre-vet students, just because I've seen how hard one works.

I think about her more.

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, and when the right people are involved it's true. I find myself thinking more often about what she would say or do in a situation if she was there, and I'm always whipping out my phone to send her something I think she'll like. We may be 3500 miles apart, but we gossip over text like we're still in high school.

I'm so grateful to live in an age of instant communication. Without things like social media, texting, and Facetime, it would have been incredibly difficult to keep our friendship alive. A lot of people told me it was sad I was losing a friend, but we didn't lose each other at all. We are just as close, if not closer, than we were when she moved. When we finally see each other again, I have no doubt it will be just as great as it was last time.