Six years. Seven years. Nine years. No matter how long we've known each other for, it will always feel like we have been best friends for a lifetime.

If you think about it, we kind of have been. We survived elementary school, middle school and attending different high schools together. We've grown up together (even though I'm still waiting for my growth spurt), and over the past four years that we've lived in different states, over 1,000 miles apart, we've grown stronger together.

Being separated has brought us even closer.

For one of you, our parents could never split us up. Another, we unfortunately grew apart, until we reconnected before I left. And honestly, the other two of us weren't very close at the time, but I think the idea of being separated is what ultimately brought us together. I don't care how many classes we shared or what we wrote in each other's yearbooks at the end of our freshman year. Spending time so far away from each other showed us how much we valued having each other in our lives.

You still get me.

I can always count on you to still have the same sense of humor as me. Even that one time when you gave up Oreos for Lent and I sent you recipes that had Oreos in them. I'm not sorry. Or when you tag me in videos of sharks. I still kind of hate you for that. And thankfully our technology has evolved to the point that we can send each other Snapchats of our dogs when you're home from college, or so I can see pictures of that boy you work with in the cafe.

Maybe it's a good thing for us to be apart.

If we weren't, what would we talk about? Going to different high schools, and now colleges, there's always a FaceTime conversation or glitchy Skype call waiting to be had. Even though you may not personally know the people I tell you about, and I don't remember the people from our hometown (oops, sorry), you're always there to listen to me vent, encourage me and give me helpful advice. I can always count on you to text me about that anti-feminism post I tagged you in on Facebook. It's become an instinct to reach for my phone when I see that Hens & Chicks succulent picture at Target, or whenever I see nude heels exactly like the ones someone stole from you.

Finally seeing you in person is so much better.

Counting down the days until we see each other again will never get old. Neither will going to El Mariachi every day that I'm in town, just because we can. We walk around grocery stores and drive through my old neighborhood just to be able to spend every minute with each other. Because before we know it, every minute will be an hour behind.