It’s been 9—almost 10 years since my two best friends and I have lived in the same city. My parents moved me away when I was 16, and although I have always talked to them frequently on the phone, it’s never the same as actual quality face-to-face time.

I moved back for a year after I graduated high school, but at that point, my best friend Jeff moved about 100 miles away to go live with his dad. By the time he moved back a year and a half later, I had already been forced to move on to somewhere else.

About three years ago, my other best friend Eric joined the military, and moved away too. Not that I really notice much, because it’s still just telephone time, and so the face-to-face thing never really comes into play.

In an ideal world, I would love for all of us to live in the same city, wherever that may be, and just have the chance to spend lots and lots of quality time together again. I miss them so much, and with me living out in the boonies these days, I simply crave human interaction with the people I’m closest to, but never get.