dear reader,
this past week, from thursday to sunday, i flew solo to ohio to visit one of my long-distance best friends.
i’ve mentioned her before in one of my articles, but as a little backstory, we met the summer of 2018 at our dads’ school group reunion at my house. in that one-week timespan, we stayed up until 3 am every day, just talking and getting closer. for the sake of her privacy, i’m going to call her amara in this article :)
spending every moment like it was the last
once i got there, amara and i didn’t compromise. we - quite literally - dropped off my suitcase at her house and got boba. since she was going to be a senior, their school has a tradition to paint their respective parking spot for the year. so that day, we did the base coat until 10:30 pm, and then started back to her house.
on the way home, we rolled down the windows and increased the music volume to fifty, basically blasting it. as if there was no one left in the world, we sang our hearts out to one direction bangers and other nostalgic hits.
we didn’t waste a single second of the limited time we had together, always talking, taking pictures, painting, watching the new season of never have i ever, and going crazy.
i hadn’t realized how much i missed her until i was with her. because it just made me cherish the moments even more.
life can change in an instant.
we booked the tickets for ohio in one day - i called her to make sure she could host me, she said yes, my dad called her dad to double check, my dad took a nap while i checked the prices, he woke up, and we booked the tickets. i’m supposed to go back next year for her graduation party, and that’s the plan right now, but things could change. so if that doesn’t happen for whatever reason, at the very least, i have all these beautiful memories. (but don’t worry amara, i know you’re reading this right now, and i will be there ;)).
tell the people you love, that you love them.
the people in our lives aren’t always going to be there if we don’t show that we care too. we all have our priorities, but it doesn’t take more than 30 seconds to send a little “hey i want you to know that i love you and hope you’re doing well” text to someone. that short period of time could change everything for that person and will make us feel so much happier. so reach out to the people you want to keep in your life, and let them know you’re here.
make your friendships so strong that you miss the people even when they’re right there.
this probably sounds confusing and weird, but about three hours after i arrived in ohio, i told amara that i missed her. why? because time flies so fast and i knew that i only had about 50 full hours with her, so my heart ached just thinking about not seeing her for another year again when i left.
and this is just a side note, but if you’re wondering why we’re calling her amara, it’s because i call her “mi amor”, as a cute nickname, which means my love in spanish. and after her, i hope to name my future daughter “amara” as a forever reminder of the times we spent, spend, and will spend. so don’t compromise - get yourself a friend that makes you happiest.
even though we live 2,375 miles away from each other, i can truly say that the friendship amara and i have is more pure and wholesome than words can explain. people often say that distance doesn’t matter in strong relationships and in ones that are meant to last. i can proudly say that that’s true.
so for those four days, the city was ours, we lived while we’re young, and we danced all night to the best song ever. i love you amara, and i miss you more than ever.
cheers and love,
apuroopa :)
side note: you might be wondering what you should do after reading this article. i challenge you to reach out to someone you love (or more than one person) and let them know that you love them and checking in on them. life is too short to hold grudges or wait for them to reach out to us. even if they may not reply, at least we won’t have any regrets. so think of the person/people you connected with when you read this, and send them some love.