I have never been great at long-distance relationships. I have no idea how my husband and I made it for two years apart at two different times in our dating life… except for the fact we made a really, really intentional effort to talk once a day on the phone and racked up a lot of credit card debt buying plane tickets.
When I was younger, we occasionally had the opportunity to have an overseas pen pal and I think I sent a grand total of one letter. My grandma and I have sent letters back and forth, but when it really comes down to it, she does a lot more of the writing than I do. Writing letters has never really been my thing. Emailing back and forth to keep in touch was somehow easier, but even then, I was hardly the person to initiate the conversation.
Heck, I don’t even really like to talk on the phone with people.
Give me a person to person conversation over a cup of coffee any day.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t work when you live far away from those friends and family you crave spending time and sharing stories with.
Right after Christmas, a group of my girlfriends and I got together for breakfast at a dive bar. We had huge breakfasts and a round of mimosas and after months of not seeing each other dove right into the conversation and updates. And even in three short hours, we were able to connect, go deep, and that time together was so precious.
Sometimes you need that girlfriend to laugh with about something stupid or that friend to commiserate with over a shared struggle. Sometimes we just need to get stuff off our our chest in a safe, loving, supportive space.
But when your best friends live far away, what do you do?
We committed to trying something new. We pinky-promised to text more often. It probably looked pretty funny the four of us standing in a parking lot… grown women making a pinky-promise. But that was always us… the weirdos 😉
Maybe it is a strange thing to try but we just needed to intentionally make an effort to keep in touch. Silly stuff, serious stuff, anything really. Just to keep the lines open. Any time. Any day. Just to remind one another we are here.
Good thing I have unlimited texting, because I think I have already sent/received more messages in the last week than I did all of last month. Sheesh, I missed my friends.
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