The night my best friend called to say that he was moving across the country in less than a month I spent two hours crying on the bathroom floor. I cried as if I had just found out he had died, which at the time, was exactly how it felt. I couldn’t imagine a world in which he didn’t live an easy fifteen minutes away. Who was going to go see late night scary movies with me? Who was going to sing the harmonies to all of my favorite songs on long car rides? Who was going to take unexpected trips to the mall, or hiking trails, or adventure parks, or miniature golf, or a million other places? I felt as if my heart had been broken. 

Not for the first time in my life I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to latch onto him and beg him not to go; to scream “stay!” at the top of my lungs. Every time we spoke I could feel the words at the tip of my tongue but each and every time I swallowed them. During each adventure we had I avoided the topic as if saying the words “leaving” would burn my mouth. I almost believed that if I just avoided the situation altogether maybe it would disappear. As what I began to internally refer to as D-Day grew nearer though I realized that it wasn’t going to go away and his desire to make sure that I accepted his decision had grown stronger. He was going to leave with or without my blessing but at least with my blessing he could leave in peace. 

I knew that he was barely staying afloat here and that if this trip was cancelled it would kill him. He needed this almost as badly as he needed to breathe. So I did what any great best friend would do; I supported him. I told him how I knew he was destined for bigger things than our town could give him. I told him I wanted to see him succeed and of course to make it less mushy I threw in a couple of jokes on how I would piggyback off of his success. Most important of all though, I told him that I believed in him. Every word that poured past my lips I meant and by the end of it tears had my eyes swimming and I was glad that he couldn’t see me through the phone. 

November fourteenth came and went without any fanfare. There were no heartfelt goodbyes, no “I love you’s”, nothing; it was just easier that way. He kept our “squad”, which was a small group of our mutual friends, updated on his travels. We got a new snapchat with each new state he crossed into and each new hotel he stayed in. My heart soared at his excitement and I could feel the sadness fading bit by bit. He was happy and, as usual, it was infectious. We couldn't help feeling joyous in return. Despite all of these changes he was experiencing that I’m sure put him through quite a trying time he still reminded me everyday that even if we are separated by a whole country he will never be that far away.

He has only been gone a month and I miss him everyday. We spend hours a day texting, snapchatting, gaming, and having gif wars together with our friends so that we never lose our bond. Most days the separation is easy because we both have a million things to do so that we don't miss each other too much. On nights like this though, when a new movie comes out and I crave some movie theatre snacks, the ache in my heart makes itself a little more noticable. However we are finding new ways to stay close even though we are so far apart. Technology has been a huge factor in this fight against distance and I can’t imagine living in a time where letters were the only form of communication and they didn’t even arrive for months at a time.  

In spite of all of these challenges I am happy at the choice he has made to further his career and his dreams and I support him one hundred percent. I have never met a person so determined and full of life and hope. He is a warrior among men and I have been truly grateful to call him my best friend. I know that no matter where our lives take us we will always be close. It’s like we always used to say whenever life got hard, “it’s us against the world”.