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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Tampa chapter.

    My best friend, Liv, and I are attached at the hip. Liv is my rock, my person and my other half. We do all the best friend things: concerts, drives with no destination, coffee runs, and everything in between. We plan a bunch of vacations we can’t afford together and talk about how we’re going to buy houses next to each other when we grow up because there’s just no way we can live away from each other. Except, right now we do. 

    For college, we decided on schools on opposite sides of the east coast. I chose University of Tampa in Florida, and she chose UMass Lowell in Massachusetts. These schools are roughly 1,200 miles apart in distance. This is a huge adjustment from living down the street from each other. I think I can throw a rock from my house and hit her house. We have matching tattoos and distance bracelets. We always say that we have one singular brain cell that is shared between the two of us. Liv and I will constantly say the same thing at the same time or even text each other the same thing because we just know. Even our parents say we share a brain cell!

    Even though we’re a plane ride apart from each other, our friendship gets stronger every day. We are constantly texting and on facetime. We still know everything about each other. She continues to be the person I call when I get great news, when I’m sad or when I’m angry. I can tell her anything with no judgement. It sucks to not be able to just go over whenever anymore. If you look through our texts, at least once a day you’ll see “i miss u, big squeeze <3” to show that we still send a hug when needed. 

    One of the hardest parts is not being able to be with each other during tough times. When her boyfriend of 2 and a half years broke up with her, I was beyond pissed off, because I couldn’t be there to sit with her and eat cookie dough together. Luckily, my mom, who also loves her, brought her some homemade cookies and one of my school sweatshirts for comfort. I sent her a squishmallow so she would have a stuffed animal that wasn’t from him.

    I couldn’t imagine my life without her. We’ve created such a strong bond in the time we’ve been friends. Keeping in touch and having family members so close really helps. I talk to her parents and her little sister very often; her mom mails me a card almost once a week while I’m at school. They’ve become my second family and I know Liv feels the same about mine. Even almost 1,200 miles away, we get closer everyday. 

    Hey Livy, if you’re reading this, I miss you so much. Love you to the moon and to Saturn!

Jillian Eaves

Tampa '23

Hi! This is Jillian (but she really prefers to be called Jilly or Jill) from the University of Tampa. Jilly grew up right outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Jilly is an education major with a double minor in political science and leadership studies. She enjoys baking, ice cream, reading, and jamming to music with her friends. She's totally a dog person but has a special spot in her heart for cats. Jilly plans to teach the 3rd or 4th grade with hopes of instilling a love of learning in future generations.