I recently came back into contact with my best friend from some of elementary school, all of middle school and most of high school. I break our friendship into these time groupings because at the begining of our junior year she ran away without telling anyone and moved to Southern California to liv with her older sister.
When she left it broke my heart and I count that time as one of my first bad "breakups" because it caught me so off guard and because I haven't had that many breakups... But the thing is that despite my hurt we stayed friends. We would call each other and she would caome up from San Diego to visit so it wasn't really like our friendship ended and we kept this long distance relationship for almost two years.
Then in her own true fashion, my friend called me last August to tell me she was moving to Ireland (she had family there) to live with some guy she had met and if worst came to worst she would live with her family. Around that same time I was going through a wierd stage with my other bad breakup and finishing my first term of college. When she asked for my advice on the matter I told her to do it if she felt like it was the right thing and that I would call her before she left.
By the time my own mess was cleaned up, it was the day she was supposed to leave and when I called her there was no answer. I gave up on my friend, believing that she had gone to Ireland forever and that I would never get to speak to her again.
Fast forward six months and you reach the day that i decided to Google her and found her on some networking site, which I joined just so that I could contact her. We sent some emails, exchanged phone numbers and I expected to catch up with eachother and go back to the way things were.
The problem with not talking to someone for six months is that you both grow apart as you grow up. While I was going to school nonstop post graduation, she was working and partying more than ever. As I was starting to learn about what I planned on doing for the rest of my life, she was living like there was no tommorow. When she called the other day, it was 10:30 at night and I was getting ready for bed. She was getting ready to go out. The next day when I called at 1:30, she was still sleeping off the previous night, and when she finally returned my call seven hours later, I pretended to be someone else and told her that I couldn't come to the phone.
I love my friend. I trust her more than anyone else. But while I am working like crazy to become something, she is partying like crazy to forget all the things that have happened over the last few years. I worry now that while I have grown into an adult more and more, she has only grown away from me, away from the world that I have started to make for myself. I can't help but worry that I have out grown my best friend.
