Missing M

My oldest friend came in for a visit. Oldest in terms of how long I know her, not in terms of how old she is. We've known each other since nursery days. We used to count the years by saying, "hey we've been friends for 15 years". We stopped doing that a long time ago; I think we both felt that the number was getting scarily large and we both are pretty superstitious.

She came in because her mother, who lives here in Israel, had a bit of a health scare, which turned out to be (Thank G-d) easily resolved. By the time she arrived, mom was up and around and feeling good, so we had time to play. Now that we live so far apart, time spent with her is precious. Although we speak fairly often via my computer phone line, it's just not the same as being together. Her and her mother spent Shabbat with us and we passed the time by updating each other on the ups and downs of our lives,and of course playing games. She is a vicious competitor and I usually lose games like Banagrams and Set to her. (I always ask her how someone who hates to read books can be so good at word games).

But now she's gone. It was so hard to say good-bye to her this morning. I've probably said it before and I'll say it again: for me the most difficult thing about making Aliyah is the people I left behind. I ache with missing them. Still. It's an ache that comes and goes, but when it hits me, it's with a full force that knocks the wind out of me. How did people move here years ago before the internet and computer phone lines and Facebook?

Will it get easier?