Recently, I received this request: “I am writing an article for one of my classes about distance friendship... People were friends for many years and then they move far away from each other. What changes? What are the chances that friendship will survive? How do we keep up with all the changes... and then make our friendship last?” The reader elaborated ( 详细说明 ) in a second email, explaining that two of her best friends lived far from her and she had recently met with one of them, but their relationship had now sadly changed. She wondered if “there are friendships that last a lifetime and what to do to have a friendship like that.” Unfortunately, while I can ramble on ( 漫谈 ) about short-term friendships, I have not experienced many of long-term friendships. My oldest contact is a young woman whom I vecame acquainted with about ten years ago and who at one point had been my Little Sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters (a non-profit organization whose goal is to help all children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with volunteer mentors.) We see each other annually in December. My longest close friendship is with Andy Frederick whom I first met in the fall of 1996. Hence, to answer my reader’s email, I sought the help of friends with more experience with long-term friendships. They came through for me! One friend wrote, “People, in the big picture, are fairly predictable. Long-distance relationships rarely survive past the “I think of that person once in a while’ state.” She confessed, “Of all the friendships I have had since I was old enough to make friends, I only have one person I stay in regular contact with who I met in high school. She lives very far away and we manage to get together at least once a year and talk a few times a year beyond that.” Otherwise, the friends whom she has managed to stay in contact with are those separated from her by the least amount of distance. She concluded that such is the facts of life. “Out of sight does not necessarily mean out of mind... but physical distance does create more distance in frequency of thought and emotion.”