Over the course of three months, my life was changed drastically. Well, my life hadn’t really changed all that much to be honest, it was more the changes in my two best friends’ lives. In the span of one season, I was informed that one of my best friends would be moving to Denver, Colorado, and another to Chicago, Illinois. While I was overjoyed for both of my friends and the positive changes and opportunities they would experience, I was also a bit sad and concerned for our friendships. I knew the dynamics would undoubtedly change due to the distance. It has now been almost a year since both of my favorites decided to make a change. There have been ups and downs along the way, but here are a few examples of what to expect when your best friend moves away.
You Will Miss Them More Than Expected
Obviously, when you go from having weekly sleepovers to living hundreds of miles apart, you will miss each other. That is to be expected. At first, it will seem easy. They’ll be busy settling into their new life and you will be going on with yours. But over the first month or so, you’ll really begin to miss their presence. You’ll begin to notice just how much time you spent together spontaneously. With the opportunity to call them up for last minute plans no longer available, you’ll miss your friend and their companionship more than ever but you’ll also learn to stand on your own.
Texting Back Becomes a True Challenge
Trying to make up for distance, texts tend to get a lot longer. The longer the text, the more difficult it can be to find time to craft a response. Between work, competing time zones, new friends and life in general, it can be difficult to keep up. It doesn’t’ help if you’re like me and already forget to text back 50% of the time. Don’t worry though, you’ll eventually fall into your own rhythm, even if that rhythm is just beginning each text with “Sorry this is three days late but…”
Five Minute Phone Calls Will be a Thing of the Past
Since texting becomes a bit of a challenge, you may resort to a more old fashion form of communication: phone calls. Most people my age do not enjoy phone calls in the slightest but in trying to keep up with the life of your friends, you may be able to let that distaste go. Once you get the hang of actually dialing a number, the phone calls will be anything but brief. Between updating each other on all of the new happenings and catching up on all of the texts you forgot to respond to, expect phone calls to be no shorter than 2 hours. A glass of water and snack might be helpful before you dial.
You’ll Learn Distance Does Not Define Friendship
While it may seem that those closest to you in location are also going to be those closest to your heart, this is not always true. When my besties moved away I learned an extremely valuable lesson, distance makes good friendships even stronger. You may have to fight harder to stay in touch, but so long as you’re both putting forth an effort, you’ll be successful. The number of miles between you doesn’t dictate the strength of your friendship, the amount of effort on each end does. You’ll be surprised by just how close you can remain when you’re constantly texting, calling, and FaceTiming each other.
It can be difficult to be separated from a friend, as friends are the family we choose. But if I have learned anything, it’s that true friendship will prevail through the miles and time zones.
