I have a little story to tell. It's about a boy from Texas and a girl from Illinois. Met in college. The boy had a crush on the girl, but the girl turned him away. As they became friends, the boy liked to annoy the girl for fun, which she couldn't stand. Over time, the girl started to have feelings for the boy. She expressed her feelings, but he only wanted to be friends. She accepted his decision with a little hope that it could change. Over the summer, the two talked almost every day and their feelings started to grow stronger...turning into something more. YOU GUYS, I just wrote you the best romantic comedy movie plot ever!

The strange thing is...this is what actually happened between my boyfriend, Jorell and I. Now, we're separated because he goes to a culinary school in Dallas and I'm still at the school, the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, where we met. Worse Happily Ever After, right? Not quite.

"Long Distance Relationships" really have a bad reputation to go bad. Either one isn't disciplined enough to wait for the other or just grow out of it, but I think it made us stronger. Let's start from the beginning: Jorell and I were talking heavy over this summer break and we had so many plans to explore our blossoming relationship when we got back to school. Then BAM! "I accepted to a culinary school in Dallas. Now I have to make a decision if I'm going back to UAPB or go to this culinary school. What do you think?" This is when I started becoming selfish: "I think you should finish what you started here. You just got into the fraternity of your choice and you got hella friends here (UAPB)". "But I get my degree within a year and I'm paying less than what I did in Pine Bluff. Plus I wasn't doing any cooking at UAPB". DAMN! He has a point. While he was "Gung Ho" about it, I was pouting about it and didn't want to talk about it anymore. As I laid down that night, I thought about how I was kind of holding him back from his dream of being a chef. I wasn't thinking about him and what he wanted, it became about what I wanted and I wanted him to stay. I felt bad, especially when we are supposed to support each other. So I called him the next day, I told he should go to follow his dreams.

Hence we are here. Opposite sides of the phone. Missing each other heavily physically, but getting to explore our communication. With this long distance relationship, we both have to learn how to trust each other, give each other space with not talking at least one or two days, and strengthening our communication skills.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder" Ain't that the truth? When Jorell got to spend a whole week with me, I cherished every moment. From watching TV or taking a nap each other, we realizing waiting to see each other is truly amazing feeling. When he left, I cried hard and was extremely sad, but I knew we would see each other again.

This whole thing isn't easy, especially when it comes down to wanting to cuddle, hug, or even kiss your partner, but you learn to cherish the time and moments that you have together. It takes a special group of people to go through long distance relationships...I believe that Jorell and I are pretty special.