How to Keep in Touch when a Friend Moves Away

It sucks, but sometimes friends move away. Close friends. No matter how old you are, or how young you are, your friends can be the most important thing in your life. And losing your close friend to another state or country can be damaging. Not just because you can't see them every other day but because you feel like that might be the last time you talk to them.

At first it's easy. You talk, you e-mail, but then after a few months your life gets busier. You'll call them next weekend. You'll speak to them next month. You'll fly out next year. But then you car dies or you get sick and miss a week of work. What to do? Here are a few ideas on how to keep the lines of communication open between you and your friends. This will show you how to not just say it but to also do it.

1)Write snail mail. You know, back in the old days . . .the 1990's people still used to put pen to paper and write each other about their lives. Yes, real pens and paper. E-mails are so quick and easy, not personal at all. But writing a friend a real letter or a Christmas card or a birthday is something that they can really hang onto. It shows that you took your time to keep their contact information, sat down and wrote something then most likely took time to go to the post office get stamps to send you something from them. What a pleaser.

So take the time to write a letter, especially in cursive. It's fancy. You don't have to send letters once a week or even once a month. But getting a letter from a friend is always a nice surprise. Whatever happened to pen pals?

2)Write e-mails. Now I know I just blasted email but if you're not the physical writing type and you have a computer, e-mail is great way just to keep in touch without being too sentimental. It seems like this is a simple answer but there have been times when I haven't e-mailed a friend for 6 months or 8 moths. The key is to schedule time to e-mail your friends on a weekly or monthly basis. Otherwise you'll forget or put it off like most people do.

3) Send b-day gifts. Yeah, you can't send a b-day gift to everyone. But for those close friends that you always give gifts to, don't stop now. Make it your thing. Bringing a little joy to someone you like in a faraway place is a good thing. And you can play who sends the better gifts . . .well, maybe not. But at least they'll know you're thinking of them and hopefully vice versa.

4) Text for good things. When something happens in your life that you are just excited about like finding five dollars in the street or getting tickets to Wicked, text your friends in faraway places. I have found that this is a good way to make them feel like you can still share the little things with them. They're not so far away that you still can't be close.

5) Call on the weekends. We all have hard weeks. It's not just you. When you get a chance and you're laying on the couch watching Jerry Springer, turn off the tube and call your friend for a 10 minute conversation. It helps you to relax and talk about your weekend and it helps them to know that they are still appreciated.

Tip # 1: Schedule a time for you to keep in touch. Whether it's through e-mails or snail mail, pick a Saturday out of the month. On that Saturday during the day, you should spend your time writing 2 or 3 letters to different friends. Yes, it takes work but if you schedule it as something that is really important to you, then you'll be more likely to do it.

Tip # 2: Update your calendar every year. Keeping a good watch on people's birthdays and where they have moved to helps a lot. If you really care about those that have moved on you, you'll want to let them know exactly that. And when you see that b-day coming up on the calendar, you'll be sure to send them a card in place of letter that you were going to send them.

Tip # 3: If you have a cell phone, texting and calling are great things to do on the weekend. But during the week, make sure you know what service your friends have. If you have a different service provider than they do, it will cost them and you money. Be considerate no matter how good of friends they are.