I hate goodbyes

A dear friend of mine is moving to the other side of the world in less than a week. Even though I know she is going I still don't seem able to get my head around it. I have known her for something like 6 years now, feels like forever. She is the one person (apart from my sister of course!) that I can count on, that I can call in the middle of the night, that I can tell anything.

Living in London it's easy to meet people, but hard to make true friends. The amount of people that have come and gone in my life over the past 9 years is remarkable.
London is the kind of place that people move to. You COME here, you weren't FROM here. Because of this London is full of interesting people from all over the world, with amazing stories to tell. You end up with friends from all walks of life. The downside of this is that people invariably, at some point, decide to move home (or away somewhere else, but mostly home). Life changes, you grow up, you move on, you move home.

You say you'll stay in touch. I'll come and visit! There's facebook and e-mail! We'll speak all the time!
But slowly over the years you lose touch. Suddenly that person you used to count as a close friend is someone whose life you know about through looking at their facebook photos. She dyed her hair? She got married? She's pregnant? 


Back home in Sweden I have the same friends I've known since I was a child. We grew up together, we shared everything. They know me, the real me. There is something very special and hugely comforting in that. Since living in London I've always missed that true friendship, and I've always cherished it when I have found it here. This is one of those friendships. She knew me 6 years ago when my life was completely different, and hers was too. She knows me inside out. She cried when I told her I was pregnant. She left work and come to the hospital only a few hours after Una was born. I can't tell you the amount of times I've cried on her shoulder, and the times she's cried on mine. We've also had big arguments and made each other cry! Because we care about each other. She is my best friend and now she is leaving.

We've said we'll stay in touch. She'll come back to visit. I'll come over when Una is a little older. There's skype and facebook! We'll speak all the time... 
I really hope we do, because I can't imagine losing her as a friend.