Friendship in your 20s

"I'm leaving on May 15th for Bangalore. You think we can meet once before that?"

My childhood and one of my closest friends told me this yesterday.

She's the second person in my friend circle to tell me she's leaving Delhi. The first one in the group left Delhi for work, six months ago. Since almost half of the group were in different cities, myself included, this was a tricky request because getting everyone together for this would be difficult. Staying in the same city and trying to meet would have been no less difficult, to be honest.

I'll admit this news wasn't that shocking, since she had hinted at something like this a few months ago. But when she told me she was leaving yesterday, it did hit me like a punching bag.

As kids, we believe that the friends we make when we're young will remain with us forever. One can term this childhood innocence, which is a good place to be before the rocks of adulthood shatter this illusion with reality.
The thing is, when we're young, life consists of only the surroundings that we see. There is no urge to go outside for anything because everything's here, and so is everyone. We make our groups and cliques with the cheesiest name for the group based on some secret joke that we all crack and promise to each other that no matter what, we'll always be together, in one city. We plan it to the last detail- maybe study at the same college after school and then work in the same office, chill together after office hours, marry people who will be friends with our friends, and then assume that our kids will be best friends with each other's kids. It's a great plan.
Until it isn't.

As we grow older, sooner or later, we come to terms with THE realization that friends will leave. They're leaving for work, studies, or something completely different. Whatever the reason, they will leave.

And the hardest pill to swallow?
We won't be able to do anything about it. (No, really, we won't be able to, unless of course you can employ people. And if you do, hi!)
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Later that day, while we both (my Bangalore bound friend and I) were talking, she said she was afraid of what would happen to us (the group), and whether we would remain friends 6 months from today if everyone would leave like this and go to different parts of the country (and the world) bi-annually, one by one. if we would stay in touch or just let go of all this?

There's a bit (a lot) of drama in this girl (she knows it), but very relevant questions were asked.

I thought about it a lot.

Daily meetups would change to meeting twice a year (if we were lucky), casual one-hour calls would change to sending invites to everyone a week prior so everyone could clear their schedule, everyday gossip would change to sending reels to keep the WA and IG groups alive, Goa road trips would change to let's meet at someone's house but let's make sure everyone is there.

It would take so much effort (10/10 level effort).
But isn't that what makes it so much more special?
Because some people are worth keeping close for the good and the bad times. And I'd like to think that even with all these changes, we would still be the 10-year-olds laughing at the bad joke someone cracked and laughing a bit more, while we looked at each other. 
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Before I exit Instagram for the day, I send her (Bangalore-bound friend) a funny pet compilation video. She reacts haha. Then, she sends me one funny baby reel. I react puppy eyes. Next morning, I receive three new reels from her.

I think we'll be fine.
Just fine. :)