Friendship Despite Place and Time

The recent cold spell in the Northern part of the USA means that I am currently housebound, and as such, have a few quiet moments to think about some of the more important people in my life.
F
riendship is one of the perpetual things that exists in our lives, yet I doubt that many of us actually have moments of clarity where we reflect upon it and feel grateful for it. Growing up in Kenya, and having done my undergraduate degree in Tennessee, I have come across a wide variety of people, some who I'm lucky to call my friends, whereas others have reserved a place as passing acquaintances. Naturally, this separation of  place means that I don't get to see some friends as often as I'd like, and while we all like to say that our friendships do not change despite being far and not seeing each other often, the stark truth is that they do.
Fortunately, I've found in my own life that distance and time have actually served to make those friendships worth having even more worth it, and in a way, have brought some people closer.

At times, it can be easy to fall into a trap of believing that the only close friends you have are those who are close to you in place, and those you get to see extremely often. Yes, it is true that ease of accessibility can make being around these people so much simpler, but at times frustration can arise when we feel that these relationships are not headed in the direction we hope. This reminds me of one of those anonymous quotes that we often see floating around the vast sphere of the Internet "Never struggle to chase love, affection, or attention. If it isn't freely given by another person, it isn't worth having." While this is true to an extent, it implies that friendships don't need any work at all. Some do and some don't, whereas others may require it from time to time. However, we should remember not to let our friendships be bounded by place, time, or even age.

One of my best friends is someone I've known for roughly ten years now. We both study in different countries, and don't get to catch up as often as we'd like, but we do make sure to share life's most important things with each other, and when we're together, it seems as though no time has passed at all. I could almost say that she knows me better than I do myself!

Another is a close friend who now lives in Australia; in high school, we saw each other every day, but now, I haven't seen her for four years. We've stayed in touch, and this has been helped immensely by our recent new trend of letter writing.

One of my close friends goes to Sewanee with me; I practically live with her, and get to see her almost everyday, and yet, I feel that we still get to know each other better as time goes by.
I'd love to hear if anyone has stories about memorable friendships that they share with others!
Have a friendly day, won't you!