This is dedicated to the best friend who lives far away from you, but who understands you better than the friends you see every day.
Too often the word "friend" is used lightly, indiscriminately assigning this title to practically all the people who one considers to be a little more than mere acquaintances.
And yet, it is a noble adjective that identifies a quality, a role, a person, who is like a brushstroke of color in the midst of a crowd of individuals dyed gray.
The following letter is ideally dedicated to one's best friend, perhaps distant, but closer than anyone else.
"My dear friend, when I wonder if it is better to be or to have, you come to mind, and then I answer "both", if it means having you as my best friend and me being yours in return. We live in different countries, we are thousands of miles apart, yet I feel you are closer than anyone else.
In the city where I live, where you once were also, there are still so many people I know, so many other friends, who could be at my house in few minutes, but with whom I don't connect and almost never hear from. We, on the other hand, continue to stay in touch as if nothing has changed and as if you were still living a stone's throw from me.
We call each other at least once a day, and even when we don't, there is for sure at least a message to let the other know how things are going. When I tell you something important or that worries me, the conversation does not end there, you also remember the next day, and you always ask me how I am doing.
Sometimes you can be ruthless, but always for my own good, and when I'm too hard on myself you make me laugh saying "Don't you dare speak ill of my best friend!". Among so many people who are practically constantly by my side, you are the only person I really feel present, authentic, and who cares about my happiness.
It would have been easy to disappear, to lose contact, to find excuses as others have done and as the many friends that I often see on the street do --- who barely greet each other with a nod because they are in such a hurry. But you are there for me, as I am for you, you always have some time or at least you are able to find it, and this makes me understand that despite the distance, I am and I remain among your priorities.
I often wonder how many people are still my friends, only due to time and habit, and if they would be if I met them today. I can only say that you would certainly be, because now as then, I would always choose you, as my best friend."
A moving letter to all those friends who, albeit distant, are so close to our hearts that they will never ever let us feel alone!
