by Ashleigh Evans posted in Parenting

7 years ago, we moved back to my home state, leaving behind almost a decade of college friendships. Those were the people who saw me at my best (and worst) and know me so well. We lived together in tiny, crappy houses and figured out who we were together with endless nights of pizza and laughs.

Through the years, we've all moved to different locations across the country and our conversations went from daily to monthly...to sometimes less than that. Life gets busy and people change, right" It sounds corny, but those are the people who I can count on no matter what, later in life. I know everyone is just a text or phone call away.
But maintaining friendships with distance takes effort. It's not as easy as walking down the hall in the morning, nursing a hangover with Sex & the City DVDs together. And I'm not the best at keeping in touch all of the time. Once I realized how beneficial it is to have those connections, I started making a conscious effort. I found an app, Marco Polo, which I highly recommend checking out. It's a fun way to catch up with friends and family. Once a year, we have a weekend where we all get together to catch up. Last weekend, we met at a lake house, armed with wine, snacks and some of our kiddos. The best part of growing older together is the connections that our kids can now have, too.

Here are 4 reasons I can't live without my friends:
Non-judgement zone. Having people who you can ask questions abou...