For as long as I can remember, I've been in long distance relationships. No, long distance doesn't always have to mean romantic, but I'd be lying if I said my long distance relationship with my dad growing up didn't help make my romantic long distance relationship in high school easier. From a young age, I understood how to maintain relationships when distance became a barrier. Having your dad abroad in Italy and Thailand wasn't ideal for a seven year old constantly growing and changing, but it did make for some fun summer vacations. Even before I could routinely skype my dad every morning at breakfast, I knew how to keep contact through emails, phone calls and postcards. Today my dad is still abroad as well as the best friends I made in international school. Here's everything I learned about maintaining the relationships with the people I love that are so far away.

1. You’re all over their social media accounts blowing up their phones with constant reminders about how much you miss them, your adventures, and the setting they all took place in. If you're not on their best friends list with a 200+ day streak are you even doing long distance right???

2.) You feel a pang of jealousy whenever your friends in college go home and get to hang out with their friends from high school, while all of your friends are spread across the globe.

3.) You roll your eyes every time one of your local friends complains about their “long distance relationship” and how much they miss their significant other who lives an hour away. Trust me, you have no idea what long distance is until you set alarms to wake up at 7am on the weekends to skype your best friends 7,000 miles away.

4.) You are the queen of timezones. You don’t even have to check your phone anymore to know that Texas is one hour behind, Idaho is two, England is six hours ahead and Kuwait is seven to eight hours depending on the time of year.

5.) You feel frustrated whenever your best friend is having a bad day and you can’t hug them or surprise them with ice cream.

6.) You get frustrated when you’re the one having a bad day and the people that matter most to you are scattered around the world.

7.) You live for skype and facetime for those big moments in your friend’s lives that you can’t physically be there for.

8.) You always have someone to vent to no matter what time of day it is- especially when you’re crying your eyes out during finals week at 4am and you need someone to listen.

9.) The few days you get to spend with them during the year are better than all of the days you spend with your local friends combined.

10.) You’re constantly talking about your futures together and counting down the days until you can be the new Rachel and Monica in the big city.

11.) You can go to your best friends for advice on everything. Literally everything- boys, girls, school, family, life. They don’t actually know the people in your life right now in detail so they will always be there to give you an unbiased honest answer.

12.) All of your friends at school know your best friend’s name, background, and the inevitable fact that even though you two are apart right now in life, that you are essentially attached at the hip and will be for the rest of your life.