When people make big changes in their lives, it can affect their relationships. Whether moving away from home or getting a new job that takes up more time, friendships with added distance can suffer. I am so glad that this wasn’t the case for me and my best friend, Sophia.

I moved from Wisconsin to Texas, so I had to leave my best friend behind. She and I were inseparable. We were next-door neighbors before my junior year and lived about 20 yards apart, making moving 18+ hours away even worse.

I was worried our friendship would fade due to the distance when I moved, but the opposite turned out to be true.

We grew closer despite the added distance, which seems surprising but makes sense when you look at our personalities.

Sophia and I both love alone time and are very low-maintenance. That, plus her love of talking on the phone, ensured our friendship grew stronger after I moved.

We became outside sources for each other to go to for advice or vent, which was super helpful for me when navigating a new school.

I was always worried that it would be awkward when we saw each other in person, simply because we are both growing and changing, but when we did see each other again, it was not awkward at all, and it was like we had never been separated. 

We now make sure to see each other once a year (it is hard to remember that we were once together every day). She came to see me last summer and even helped me paint my parking spot, which was special because we got to share a part of our senior year together.

I am visiting Sophia this summer for her grad party and honestly cannot wait. The end of my senior year has been hard because the people I have known since second grade are graduating, and I don’t get to be a part of it. So, the trip to her grad party is a perfect way for me to feel connected to my old school while being excited about graduating with my new friends.

Sophia and I knew that our friendship would never work if we became jealous of each other’s new friends. So, instead, we encouraged each other to make new friends after I moved. 

We also made sure to talk to each other every day and update each other on our lives, even if we get busy. Life gets busy for us both, but to make sure we stayed as close as we are, we updated each other constantly.

Moving away from my best friend has been a challenge, but it has also taught me about the kind of people I always want in my life. If friendships are genuine and non-toxic, they can survive almost anything, including an 18-hour drive.