Friends are Friends, No Matter How Far

On one of Maria's visits home, we went sailing!

This is Maria. Maria lives pretty far away from me, actually she's not even in the

United States right now, she's studying abroad in Brazil this semester.

Maria has always had a great sense of adventure and is always willing to try something new, she can run circles around me and probably bench press me too. She is great at skiing and sailing (yeah, sailing, how cool is that?).  

Maria and I have known each other since middle school. We sat together at lunch almost everyday. We went to our Senior Prom together. But most impressive of all, we stayed friends after graduating high school.

"The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart."

— Elizabeth Foley

After high school Maria moved away from our hometown to go to college in New Mexico. Growing apart from your high school friends is a natural part of life, I have friends from high school that still live in the same state as me but I haven't talked to in years. Maria and I, no matter how far away we lived, talked on a regular basis. When I broke up with my long-time boyfriend during my first semester of college, I texted her all of the funny pictures I would usually send to him, and she was always there to have a good laugh with me or make me feel better. That first semester of college we were both learning how to live away from our parents and make new friends.

"Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes."

— Henry David Thoreau

During breaks in school Maria sometimes comes back to visit and at the very least, we try to  go get lunch. With the discovery of Snapchat, we now send each other crazy pictures all the time, of what we're doing or whichever new filter is the weirdest.

Over the years of living so far away, we have become very VERY different people. We don't have the same friends, she likes spending time outdoors and I try to limit my time outdoors to a minimum, she is brave and adventurous and I tend to take a safer approach to life. As our lives continue to move in different directions, I know I always have a friend that cares about me and has the same (if very strange) sense of humor.

Being friends with Maria inspires me to not be afraid to go on adventures, and I have also learned that friendships takes a little bit of effort, and a small investment of time, but that time is always well spent.