Dear Shayna,

I love reading your advice column every week in The Jewish Link.

Here’s my problem: I met one of my closest friends at sleepaway camp two years ago. We have barely seen each other since then because of COVID. It’s so hard to see each other, but we try to FaceTime often. The last time I saw her was at my bat mitzvah five months ago, and I went to her bat mitzvah before that. We can’t see each other because we go to different schools, we live far away from each other and it’s too cold to sit outside. What should I do?

Dear Missing You Yolanda,

What my sister sometimes does with her friends is to Zoom with them. She plays games with them and chats with them, so I see no reason why you can’t FaceTime or Zoom with your friend also. Schedule a Zoom at a regular time each week so you know you’ll see each other. You can make life-size cutouts of each other and/or mail each other things and open them while being on FaceTime/Zoom. If all else fails, camp is only six months away.

Shayna is a fourth grader and understands what kids in elementary school are going through. She is happy to help others navigate this tricky time. She can be reached at [email protected]. She is looking forward to hearing from you soon.