Some of my favorite people are the ones that I don't see often, but still consider to be close friends. I didn't grow up in one town my whole life, go to one school, and then attend one university. I've lived in three states, gone to public, Catholic, collegiate schools, and I'll be finishing college two years early. Pair that with taking a gap year with 100 international young adults, and the only consistent thing about my circle of friends is that it has always changed.
This has never bothered me, because each friend group has marked a specific time period in my life. I've gotten to grow in ways I'm not sure would have been possible if I kept returning to the same friends that had an expectation of my old self. I've found that even if daily rituals can no longer be enjoyed between people due to distance, friendships don't have to be lost. People actually really like to keep in touch. I have a box filled to the brim with letters from summer friends, friends from states I previously lived in, and even my siblings, as they moved out and on with their lives. My current phone has Facebook messenger, Whatsapp, and Telegram to keep up with all my friends that live across the globe.
The best part of these friendships is that no matter how much times goes by I can still reach out to these friends when I need them and vice versa. It also makes seeing each other after a long time that much better. Most recently, I met up with a Belgian friend, Pauline, in a quick weekend getaway to Paris. She is definitely one of the people I categorize as my favorites and we usually get the chance to see each other maybe twice a year.
The trip showed us that a lot had changed in our lives since traveling together two years prior. We're both going to university and working towards a degree. We'd struggled with our love life, workload, and adult responsibilities. We had a great number of victories too. So, for the first few hours of being together, there wasn't a silent minute as we filled each other in on our lives. It was obvious that we had matured, but were the same people at the heart of it. We talked to strangers on the metro, ate ice cream for dinner, and chatted the night away on a couch. We noticed that my hair had gotten longer and the perm Pauline had was almost gone, but that our friendship was still very much intact.
I consider myself lucky to have people like this in my life. The ones where there is a silent agreement not to feel neglected when we aren't updated for a long time, that we know we're not forgotten. The friendships that allow, for a brief time, to step back into the person we once were and give us the chance to see how much we've grown since. Those rare moments where we can marvel at our surroundings, contemplate what we've seen, who we've been, and where we're going.
Pauline and I were already planning our next trip together before we'd left Paris. I'm sure we will be 80 years old still meeting in odd cities around the world to catch up on our lives. It's nice to know that some friendships really are for forever.
