Growing up we all had our best friends. Luckily for me, all of my best friends lived within five minutes from me. Now, being at college, I either live with my best friends or they’re just a few buildings away. My friends from high school are no more than 2 hours away as well. However, there’s just one person who doesn’t live as close as I wish they did. My best friend Lee, who has been one of my best friends since we were 8 years old, lives over 3,200 miles away in Dublin, Ireland.
Here’s our story. When Lee and I were in third grade, her family moved to my hometown, located outside of Philadelphia, from Dublin, Ireland. When I walked into the cafeteria on the first day of school I saw Lee sitting by herself. Me being the outgoing child I was, walked over and introduced myself. It didn’t take long to become best friends. We became so close that we were practically inseparable. That’s why when it was time for her family to move back to Dublin it was one of the hardest days of my life. Saying goodbye and not knowing if you’ll ever see your best friend again is one of the hardest things to ever go through.
Even though we were only 10 years old, I think we both knew that we didn’t want the friendship to end. So for years we would send each other snail mail, then we were able to connect through Facebook and then Skype. Eventually, my family was able to go Dublin to spend time with Lee and her family, and for our high school graduation Lee, her mom, and her sister came to us.
Even though we are still the best of friends, growing up with one of your best friends living in a different continent than you is extremely hard. When you have your first boyfriend or your first kiss you typically go and tell your friends everything. When your best friend lives 3,200 miles away, you can’t do that. You have to set up a time to call on Skype and even when you start talking you have to make sure it’s not going to crash on you. And on your most stressful days when you just want your best friend to embrace you with one of their hugs, they can’t. You just want to be able to cry and feel their arms around you, but that’d be a very expensive trip just so you can have that hug.
Even though there are negative aspects to having your best friend live thousands of miles away, there are also many positive parts. One of them being the experiences we get to have. If it weren’t for Lee living in Ireland, my family probably would not have gone to Dublin as early as we did. It probably would’ve been postponed until after my college graduation. Another plus is whenever we do get the chance to talk on Skype, there’s always something to talk about. Whether it be boys, classes or simply just a new book to read, we never run out of conversation.
Having a best friend who lives in another country is definitely hard. No matter how hard it may be though, it will always be a friendship worth keeping. We always make amazing memories when we see each other. After all, friends who you can not talk to for a few weeks but pick up right where you left off are the ones worth holding on to.
