I moved to Salida when I was seven years old from Fort Collins, Colorado. I was a mixture of excited and scared to move. I loved the idea of a new place with new things to do but I was scared about going to a new school and having to meet new friends. At a young age I had many friends in my old school but I had one really close friend that was like a sister to me and still is. 

My friend Natalie and I met through our moms. While my mom was pregnant with me she got hired at a church. And later that year Natalie’s mom got hired as her partner. So they both worked at the same church, in charge of its music program. Not only did our moms get close, Natalie and I grew up together. So moving away was not easy. Before I left we made so many plans. We were going to write each other letters every day, call each other as much as possible, and visit each other every month. But being little we had too high of hopes. The first month we followed through. I remember right when I got her letter, I would sit on the front porch and read it. Then I’d go to my room and write her one back.

Over time things fell through and we stopped writing letters and only called on things like birthdays. It was hard. I didn’t like to think that she had made other friends and that I now knew barely anything about her life. Every so often my mom would have a concert, shopping trip, or event near the area. I would get to see Natalie and sometimes spend the night at her house. I learned that long distance friendships are very hard to keep yet, if you can, they could result in an incredible bond. When I get to see Natalie, even though our friendship seemed to be almost nonexistent for three to six months, everything goes back to normal. We find ourselves trying to catch up with each other as much as we can in such a short period of time. I also feel like my memories with Natalie are some of the best. With long distance friends when you get to spend time with them you usually find something really fun to do. I remember when it was super late and we were playing a board game that led to betting. Natalie and I were on a team so we made the bet with our moms that if we won we could go out for ice cream. After an intense game we ended up winning. Almost every place was closed and it started raining but we were determined. Finally we found a place. Natalie and I were soaked, eating ice cream, and laughing nonstop.

Another special thing about long distance friendships is getting to show and enjoy new experiences. When you get to visit a friend in a different place, there are many different things at their town that you don’t have in your town. Like this summer when Natalie came to visit I took her swimming in the river.  She had never done anything like that. A lot of people experience the heartbreak of having to move away from your friends or having a friend move away. I believe that you can take that friendship and turn it into a whole different experience with many new advantages. It definitely isn’t easy but staying in touch and visiting your old friends can be very valuable and worth it.