An Ode to a new friend

She is a new friend... Yes, I have known her only for the past 2 months... She's been my neighbor for almost 1 1/2 years, but we became friends recently. Even though I have been seeing her around for quite a while from my kitchen window, we never got to say hello. And then, we got introduced by another friend in the library. We started meeting more often to chat and for kids to play together. Very soon we were talking or meeting up almost everyday and we became best friends. We also found that we had a lot of similarities in our interests, our past lives and the day-to-day problems we faced, which brought us even closer. I had found "The friend" that I was longing for, from the time I moved to the Bay area. She left to India for a 5 month vacation this morning. I was at her driveway waving bye and wishing her a safe trip and a great vacation when they drove away to the airport. I suddenly felt this heaviness descending into my heart. I felt this void for a friend after a very long time, perhaps first time after 12th standard. I did not feel it even when I finished my college. Why now, after so long? The only consolation is, I'm going on a vacation to India too very soon and she'll be back soon after I come back... Looking forward to those days.