4 Hours Away

We met when football was still just football, when life felt smaller and afternoons lasted forever. You were already there when I joined the team, and somehow you slowly became part of everything. Bus rides. Training in the rain. Wins that felt huge. Losses that felt like the end of the world. We grew up without noticing it. And maybe that’s why this feels so strange now— because we still smile, still stop to talk in school halls, still know how to be around each other, just not the way we used to. And now you’re moving four hours away, which somehow sounds farther than it really is. It’s strange how someone can become such a big part of your memories without staying in your everyday life. But when I think about growing up, I think about those years. And when I think about those years, I think about you.