Many of you have a best friend. Many of you probably have a best friend who is going away to college, while you stay home for college. I get that, I’m on the same boat as you. My best friend went away to college seven hours away from home. It’s hard when your best friend leaves you, it's a killer. It will probably keep you constantly thinking “Oh no she left , I’ll never see her again” or, “We won't be friends anymore” or the classic, “She’ll make a new best friend and forget about me”. Don’t think like that. Just take a second, breath and think. Think of why your best friend is your best friend. Think of all the years you guys have been friends with one another and all the fun you've had with each other. Now think “nothing can break our friendship, not even college”.
This is an important part of the friendship. Think of it like a long distance relationship. This is the time when she will need you the most, and needs your support the most. Just like your best friend leaving you is a new experience for you, your best friend leaving you and having to start all over again with trying to make new friends is a new experience for her as well. You have to comfort her and let her know that she will be just fine and she will make so many friends who will love her just like you do. She might need you for advice or help, so make sure to be there for her.
With that being said, don’t be upset or annoyed when you see that she has made so many new friends. And now she has a new “best friend”. Yes, now she has a best friend. But that's her college best friend. There is a difference. No one will ever replace you as her best friend. You two go way back. There will always be a bond that you two have that no one can break, not even a college best friend.
Like any relationship or friendship, communication is key. Don't forget to text each other once in awhile. Set up a Face Time date once a week. Call her! Talking on the phone is a lost medium. Snap chat and tweet each other. And it's always nice to post a "TBT" on Instagram. Stay connected with one another, that way you’ll never feel like she's so far away.
However there is an upside to your best friend going away for school. For starters, and my personal favorite, it's a road trip! It’s the best time, you go up and visit her for the weekend. Meet her new friends, go to parties together, and get the “going away to college” experience. If you're lucky you get to see all the pictures of you that she hung all over her dorm wall and hear that all of her friends have heard so much about you! Plus it's nice to get away once in awhile.
Second thing, every time she comes home for the weekend, Christmas break, spring break, random visits, and summer vacation, it’s the most amazing thing. You get so happy like a kid on Christmas morning. After not seeing each other for a long period of time, the smiles and happiness won't go away. It's always a little friend reunion.
Third and most important, you’ll learn from this new experience. You will learn what the value of friendship is. You’ll learn to appreciate the little things. And you’ll learn that you can live without each other for long periods of times. This is a stepping stone into the real world. Adulthood. If you and your best friend can handle a few years of not seeing one another all day every day because of distance, then you can handle a lifelong friendship.
So yeah, it hurts and it won't be the same when she's gone and when August comes you have to say goodbye to your best friend, your other half, your soul sister. But, remember where you two started, and look forward to the future you guys will have. Remember, it's not goodbye, it's "I’ll see ya later".
