‘There is magic in long distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound’ – Diana Cortes
I get ridiculously excited about very small things. For example I’m probably unnaturally excited about wearing my new TFNC jumpsuit on Friday night and trying the new Lebanese restaurant in Gosforth I’ve heard loads about on Saturday. It doesn’t take much to get me looking forward to something.
One thing though that I am incredibly excited about though is seeing one of my best friends Meagan, in July. Meagan and I met when we were 14 in a Backstreet Boys chat room (of all places!) and kind of became pen pals /email pals. Nothing brings 14 year old girls together like young American boys singing and dancing in harmony but we also found out we had loads of other things in common as well and we became very good friends, very quickly. The problem was though Meagan lives in Nebraska and I live in Newcastle so seeing each other always requires that extra bit of effort.
The first time we ever met face to face was in 2001 in London. Meg was studying in Oxford and I got the train down from Newcastle for the day. We only got about 5 hours together, my parents were, quite rightly concerned about sending their 19 year old daughter off to London to meet someone off the internet. But, they needn’t have worried; we must have talked none stop as we walked around the sunshine eating ice cream and seeing the sights. We’ve tried to see each other every couple of years since then which has resulted in me visiting her at University in Nebraska (an amazing experience to see first hand what American college is like) her coming to stay with me when she covered the Royal Wedding and meeting for a week in New York because it was cheaper for us to meet their than fly to our respective houses (check us out!)
It’s cliche to say that you know a true friend because you can go for weeks or months without seeing each other and you just pick up right where you left off but nothing could be truer of me and Meg. We have such a good laugh together, I’ve spent a lot of time around Americans so I get her sense of humour and she’s spent a lot of time in Europe so gets my sense of humour too – she’s the first American in history to understand irony! I think it’s probably a good thing we don’t live together because the world wouldn’t be able to handle so much awesomeness all at once but thanks to the wonders of modern technology; Facebook, Twitter and now Whatsapp, we’re able to speak almost every day.
Here’s some of the adventures we’ve had over the years:
Hard Rock Cafe in London in 2001
Dorm Life in Nebraska in 2002
Drinks in Newcastle in 2004
Lighting up Times Square in 2010
Getting Lost in Alnwick Gardens in 2011
Wedding selfie with Ang & Helena in 2013
Can’t wait to add more pictures to this gallery over the years to come!