Headbands & Bagels: Staying in Touch

My friends like to joke with me that I should go by the glue instead of my name. They laugh and all say that we wouldn't see each other nearly enough if I didn't work at keeping us all together. In a generation that has us living all over the world, keeping in touch is essential to keeping friendships alive.

While some of my best friends live down the road, others are in New York, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Baltimore and more. These ladies (and gents) are my rocks who keep me sane and I could not imagine my life without any of them in it.

We are lucky to live in an era where keeping in touch is easier than ever before. The digital world allows us to keep in touch via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email, texts and calls. These are the folks that I have group threads that go back years, who I could call any time of day and we can talk for hours, who think nothing of planning cross country trips to see one another, who have email chains that date back to college.

It is essential to continually find ways to connect and try to plan out time to see one another when work and life allows, outside of weddings and on the back ends of other trips. My two best friends from high school and I have a Christmas Eve brunch every year in NYC. It has become an essential part of my Christmas holiday. My three besties from my sorority, ChiO, and I share a group text thread and email thread for years and work our best to see each other for a girls trip whenever we can all find a date that works. One of my closest gal pals and I share a hotel room for SWE National Conference every year. These traditions make it easy to ensure that we see each other throughout the year.

Still it is so important to stay connected between the visits. This is where my love of stationary comes in so handy. I love to get snail mail. I think it could never be overrated and it is such a sweet sign of friendship to your friends. In fact, I have given note cards as part of Christmas and Hanukkah gifts to my girlfriends for years. I love getting note cards back from them using the cards and its nice to return to the age of summer camp and pen pals. My suggestion, write someone you love a card every week. It is the ultimate surprise!