I enjoy making friends and making connections with people of all backgrounds and cultures. Growing up, I'd make friends with the international exchange students. They show up for a year or so and then leave. Many I've stayed in touch with and have gone to visit them in their home country. I would consider them close friends. We've kept this friendship even if they are across the world.

As a person, I would say I’m a very affectionate person. I like to form bonds and form some level of intimacy. Intimacy can be physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual or experiential. The idea of intimacy does not need to be sexual. I’m very affectionate to those with whom I have a close relationship, such as my best friends. I would also consider them very affectionate as well. I guess we can say we are in touch with our emotions and be expressive towards each other. We’ve shared so many moments together. That’s why we’re friends. As we’ve become older and started our careers, our lives, our relationships, etc, we’ve all relocated and don’t see each other as often as we used to. We all find ourselves living in various parts of the United States. It’s a sad reality growing up. Yet, here we are. It doesn’t seem that our bonds have weakened.

Having these human relationships or interactions is the main piece of keeping our relationships so strong. Many of my relationships with people I have rely on digital relationships as well. It's how many of our relationships keep strong.

Many of us desire a form of intimacy and emotional bond from those important to us. Oftentimes the only way to get these is through a virtual medium. We want to foster deep emotional connections with the absence of physical proximity. We want to share those important moments with a phone call or a video chat. We want to support each other in hard times. We want to replicate those movie nights when we were all living together. Virtual relationships allow us to provide emotional support from afar with our personal struggles, external stressors, or societal issues. This strengthens the emotional bond between individuals. Trust becomes a cornerstone that supports the vulnerability inherent in forming emotional bonds.

It's possible to have meaningful virtual relationships as we adapt with the changing times and remember the human in relationships.