Long-distance friendships are complicated: sometimes you talk regularly while other times you barely communicate. But in the end, they are worth it.
My best friend, Jonathan Scotto, moved 1,200 miles away for college and there was nothing I could do about it. But as the keychain I gifted him says: “Side by side or miles apart…best friends like us stay close in heart.”
I have never had any luck with friends. They don’t stick around for long. They usually get tired and break it off. If you have ever experienced a friendship break up, you know how much they can suck.
But this friendship was different.
Scotto and I met around our sophomore year at Coral Reef Senior High School. I used to sell tasty fudge brownies and he was one of my biggest customers. However, we became estranged after I stopped selling the brownies because the school threatened to suspend me.
Luck would have it that Scotto and I would be placed in the same class during senior year—and I can almost guarantee that neither of us thought this would be a friendship that lasted past high school.
We quickly became inseparable. We would hang out with each other before school and during lunch, stay after school to study and then grab a bite at Tacos & Tattoos nearby. We even went to homecoming and prom together—we were that kind of best friends.
I was silently devastated when he told me he was going to the University of Pennsylvania. But as sad as I felt for our friendship, I couldn’t help but feel overjoyed for his success. Despite the distance, we texted and video chatted occasionally but it just wasn’t the same. He had his life in Philadelphia and I had mine in Miami.
But our friendship rekindled during the pandemic.
Scotto and I had all this extra free time so our friendship came back stronger than ever. He even toys with the idea of coming back to live in Miami since his classes are all online and he works remotely. Selfishly, I encouraged the move.
Last month he came back home to visit and I could tell he was itching to move back. But during his time here I had an epiphany—we were strangers.
Virtually we seemed to be the same, as if time had never passed, but the reality is that we have grown. I’m 21 years old now. And I didn’t expect him to be the exact same person he was in high school as we all have evolved since then, but it felt almost like a culture shock.
Our friendship is in no way perfect, especially after all this time, but we will figure out how to navigate it as young adults.
