Bridging the Gap - 2006 Our Voice Literary Magazine Entry

Losing your best friend his hard--harder than facing your crush in the eye, harder than showing your parents that newly-acquired "D" in Algebra.

At first, you think "Oh, they are only going to be ten miles away. No biggie." But it is.

With email and IM, it may seem easy to keep in touch, but it becomes a whole new struggle. Every time you hear that familiar door open, you turn around, half expecting to see her standing there, but you don't. Then, you turn back around and see a new IM window pop up. At last! But this exchange is something different. No gossip about who likes who, just a slew of "I miss you!"'s. It's not the same.

Those nightly phone calls come less frequently. Every other night....twice a week...weekly...bi-weekly...once a month. You begin to miss her siblings screaming for tater tots in the background, the sound of her parents coming home from work and greeting you over the speakerphone. Now, it's all so rare. You would do anything to hear it. It's more valuable than gold.

Eventually, the braids come untied. Relationships are unraveled, until you are the only one holding on. You're bridging the gap; the great chasm that may only be ten minutes wide, but to you it goes on forever.

Then, and only then, do you realize that you must be strong and carry on. You have to fill that gap with your life, grasp the friendship and live it to the fullest. It is your obligation, as a friend, to keep her in your arms.

You need to keep your clasp tight until you've built a bridge over that great chasm, so that every night you hear those screams for tater tots, the fight over the phone with her sister, and that greeting shouted over the speakerphone from her exhausted parents.

And, most importantly, you need to show your friend that she means everything in the world to you.

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