(August Thigpen (first from the right) with her friends during a recent visit to Chicago. Photo courtesy of August Thigpen)
For some, the pandemic put a strain on friendships. But for me, it brought my friends and me closer.
For the first couple of years after I moved from Chicago to Oakland, it was difficult to maintain my long distance relationships with my three best friends.
Before the move, our friendship had always been effortless. We saw each other every day at school, ate lunch on the bench outside the cafeteria and set up regular sleepovers. But our transition to different high schools, paired with my cross-country move, totally disrupted our dynamic.
But once COVID began, our lives took a turn. All of a sudden with online school and all of our activities put on an indefinite pause, we actually had… time.
We scheduled a weekly FaceTime call every Friday afternoon. We watch movies, give each other life updates and reminisce about middle school memories.
Even now, as things reopen and our schedules have picked back up, we’re still holding onto that weekly call. It may take more effort now, but I still feel closer to my friends than ever.