Navigating Long Distance Friendships and the Magic of Wumbo Wednesdays

Making friends as an adult is super intimidating and scary for some reason. When we are kids, we usually make friends due to proximity whether that be at school, through clubs, or being in sports together. As adults, we find friends at work, the bar, or the gym but once people eventually move on or away, it is very easy to grow apart.

The Challenges of Long Distance Friendships

• Emotional Distance: Some people (not their fault) tend to be "out of sight, out of mind" type friends, and it can feel incredibly difficult to feel close with someone solely over the phone or via letters. This creates a sort of wedge in some friendships where it may be easier to lose contact.

• Communication Barriers: Being an adult is busy and even when in the same city, aligning schedules can be hard to do, so adding a large time zone difference can also make communicating with others harder to maintain.

• The Risk of Growing Apart: Generally with new places and experiences it is super easy for friendships to fade if you are separated for so long. There is nothing wrong with growth and realizing that some friends were meant to be temporary, but it can be sad to realize when those friendships have started to fizzle.

  
  

The Birth of Wumbo Wednesday

My group chat origin story is for another post, but basically my three closest girl friends and I all used to live in Northern Virginia until last year when all of us (except Taylor) moved either across the country or in my case, the world. We didn't want to grow apart as friends so we first made a point to message and send memes in our group chat pretty frequently and occasionally facetime as a group. With time zones and miles between us, unfortunately video chat just wasn't sustainable for our schedules. So one day, my friend Alex brought up the idea of sending an update via video on an iterative basis to stay up to date on each other's lives. We all decided on a day, and the tradition started from there. It used to just be us girls, but it expanded to some other close friends and now it is basically us girls and our significant others now.

If you are curious to the first part of the name, you probably were also a sheltered kid that couldn't watch certain TV shows as a kid and I empathize with you. Wumbo is a reference to Spongebob where Patrick turns Spongebob's belt that says "M for Mini, when it should be W for Wumbo... I wumbo, You wumbo, he she me wumbo" You get it. If it wasn't a word before it is definitely a word now. Thank you Alex and Taylor for your quotes and references that I usually have to look up LOL.

Any way, basically "Wumbology" is the practice of sending a video every Wednesday to the group chat talking about how you are currently doing, any updates from the week before, any upcoming events, and responses to other peoples videos.

Personal Impact

This year has been tough at times personally, but no matter how tough, I always had something to look forward to each week. Sometimes Wumbos were what got me through the week. It is mainly memeing and joking around with my favorite people, but it also an intentional moment of connection that each of us in the group have committed to. It truly has brought us all a little closer despite the miles between us.

Why does Wumbo Work so Well?

• Consistency: Having a set recurrence for everyone to send their videos keeps everyone on track and at this point it is just part of my routine.

• Fun: The purpose of this is to have fun and connect with the people you care about. It shouldn't feel like work or drain you. The point is to uplift you and recharge your social battery.

• Staying Up to Date: By sending these videos every week, we all generally feel close to each other still. Our inside jokes, our memes, they all remind each other that we still care for one another and they are all still important to us.

Creating Your Own Wumbo

• Even if you live in the same city as your "people", if you feel like you just can't meet up with them enough, make your own ritual and set the frequency to what is realistic for you.

• You don't have to call it "wumbo" per se, you can tailor it to what will "stick" in your group. Be creative and find something that fits the personalities and schedules of friends.

If any of my fellow wumbologists are reading this, you rock. Until next time, I love you alllll byeeee.