We love showing that long distance friendship works. That’s why we’re excited to introduce you to Jen and her best friend Ewuraekua. They’ve been BFFs for 15 years, but Jen is boarding a flight for Rwanda on September 13 to begin her service as a Peace Corps Education Volunteer. She’ll be gone 27 months– but they’ve developed a keep-in-touch plan that includes sharing a Traveling Journal.

TTJ: How does it feel knowing you’ll be away from your best friend for so long?

Jen: The prospect of going on this journey without my best friend scares me a bit and the idea of saying goodbye to someone who has been such a positive force in my life is heartbreaking.

TTJ: How did you and Ewuraekua meet?

Jen: Ewuraekua and I met in 7th grade, we were in a few classes together and had a few other mutual friends. I was kind of a nerdy kid and I kind of clung to her, she was really extremely welcoming. Coming into high school we became extremely close and continued that friendship when she lived in Ghana with her family for sophomore year, it was extremely difficult not having her here to share that part of high school – learning to drive, boys, new friends, school etc. We have always been close – she and I – and we have grown into our own people now and we’ve come to appreciate how special our friendship is.

TTJ: How have you managed to stay close for so long?

Jen: We can both get busy with life, relationships, graduating college etc – but we always seem to be able to come back to each other and it is as if nothing has changed. She has truly been one of the greatest friends a girl could ask for and the greatest gift I can give her in return is my friendship. She’s currently working with autistic children in Philadelphia while setting herself up to go back to graduate school for Psychology while I graduated with my teaching credentials and plan to come back and explore my options here as well as abroad. She will be the last person I say goodbye to before leaving for Rwanda, and neither of us would have it any other way.

TTJ: How do you plan to stay in touch while you’re away for so long?

Jen: A few weeks ago, we were discussing things we could do to keep in touch, facebook, iChat, emails – all of these seemed a bit impersonal. She came across your website and we instantly fell in love with this idea! We plan to use your concept in our own way – sort of – we have devised rules and a plan of how this would work but the bottom line is that for the entire 27 months of my service in Rwanda, I’ll be more connected to my best friend than I had ever imagined.

TTJ: How do you think having the Traveling Journal will keep you connected?

Jen: I know this way missing the events, the moments, the shopping trips and funny commentary – won’t be nearly as bad. I wanted simply to email and thank you for creating this project. I love the idea, I cannot wait now to start our first (of what I’m sure will be many) journal.

As a writer I love telling stories. I look forward to interviewing interesting people and sharing their stories with others. I don’t always like writing about myself though, unless it has to do with a topic I’m passionate about. And one of those topics I love writing about is The Traveling Journal. One of the positions I hold is features editor for a South Carolina women’s magazine called Belle. Every month I coordinate articles and write a few as well. For our August issue I was excited to have the opportunity to share the story of The Traveling Journal with our readers.

In “The Traveling Journal takes Manhattan” I give readers an inside look at how we ended up on the Today Show, what the experience was like and how Steve Carrell gave us encouragement. I wrote about the incredible day when I got the exciting job of calling each of my friends to tell them that The Today Show wanted to fly us to NYC– a day I will never forget! I even shared about the sixth link in our circle of friends, Jessica. I wrote about her black curly hair, wrinkly hands and the gift she gave us– the gift of learning just how precious friendships are. Since you can’t get your own copy of Belle unless you’re lucky enough to live in the Upstate, here’s a sample, my last paragraph:

And just before our four minute segment was over we handed Hoda and Kathie Lee gift bags with their own traveling journals tucked inside, which got a great endorsement from Hoda. We all agree that it really couldn’t have gone better. And wh en we started this long distance friendship tradition ten years ago, we never imagined the journey it would take us on.

And that’s the honest truth. But we’re excited to see where all of this is headed.