Aleena Norris 4/11/2024: The Beauty in Long Distance Friendships and Relationships

 As I continually age, meet, gain and lose more relationships and friendships, the importance of true connection becomes more evident. When I went to the University of Tennessee, I met my friend Erin Gwydir. She quickly became a soul connection to me. We only lived in the same city for two semesters, our freshman year. The first semester of sophomore year she studied abroad in Italy, and when she came back I transferred home. Today, I am at CNU and she is at The New School in NYC. We've now lived a part for over two years, but she is still my person and one of my truest friends. Meeting someone and becoming so close so fast can make you feel like you will always meet people that make you feel like that. But it's simply not true. Meeting Erin was a blessing, and the ability to stay close to people as humans, despite living thousands of miles apart, is a special and beautiful capacity that we have. It would be easy to be upset that I don't have her in my corner physically, but when I can view our friendship through a lens of gratitude it becomes so much easier. There is beauty in the things we have to wait for, or only get small glimpses of every now and then. There is beauty in things that require patience, and trust. 

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