Moving On

Question: If a friend tells you shes leaving to a foreign country how do you deal with that? How do you see the good in it and move on continue being happy?

Answer: With your friend is moving out of the country, you must be having mixed emotions. It's hard for you because you feel like you wont have her nearby but if you think about it, I'm sure this was a big decision for her and is the best thing for her right now. People don't just pick themselves up and move to another country without thinking about it so I'm sure that there is a good reason for why she's going.
Keeping that in mind will help you think about her for a minute - that it must be hard for her too. She is leaving a place of all her comforts to go on to a strange, new country. Even if she's been there before, it's still a change for her and change isn't easy.

Just because she is moving doesn't mean you are not going to be able to stay in touch with her. There's a saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder" which means that when someone is far away from you, it makes this emotion in your heart feel stronger for them so you'll love them even more. The fact that she's moving will deepen your feelings for her and can in fact make you become closer than before!

You can still keep in touch with her. These days, we are blessed with telephones - generations back didn't have that! You can call your friend, send her letters, faxes and emails with updates on how you are doing and you can hear back from her as well. It's such a bracha that we have all these methods of communication today!

After my brother, Shalom a"h, was niftar, I thought about this - I was going to seminary in Eretz Yisroel and was going to miss my family so much! But to me it was a whole different story, totally different emotions than other girls who were there and also missing their families. Why? Because I knew that when I would get home at the end of the year, I would see my family once again - but my brother, he I would only see once moshiach comes and we are zoche to techiyas hameisim. (Of course there are no guarantees and something could happen over the year c"v but I felt that I'd see them all once I got back.)

So appreciate that you'll get to see your friend again - and if she is too far away and you don't think you'll be seeing her, at least you'll be able to speak to her or write to her! It's not like she's leaving you forever! You can keep in touch! How lucky you are to have such a close friend!!