Dear haters of long distance relationships,
This is a letter to you, someone who believes that the miles aren’t worth it and that you can only find love in a person that’s no farther than 20 minutes away. Many people think that being in a long distance relationship is either incredibly difficult or just insane. I disagree. I think it shows how much the couple really loves each other and how far they are willing to go to test the boundaries of their relationship (literally and figuratively). Why do I feel this way? Because I’ve been in a relationship with the man of my dreams for 14 months, and we’ve been on opposite sides of the country for 10 of them.
Going from living at college and spending pretty much every single minute of every single day with each other, to only texting and Skyping with short visits to see each other is a huge change, but you get used to it over time. The first few days apart were the hardest, and believe me, I cried myself to sleep for a couple of them. But you keep living life as if nothing changed. As time goes by, you start to appreciate the little things more, like actually being together on the holidays, little gifts that you send each other, and those Saturday nights where all you want to do is lay in bed and watch crappy movies. You especially appreciate the days where you actually get to do so, whether it be in person or via Skype.
Some days are harder than others, like the ones where you just need to cuddle up next to your boyfriend and cry about how hard that Molecular Genetics Exam was. And some days go by so quickly that you don’t even realize the man you love is thousands of miles away (1,794, to be exact). But, at the end of the day, I know that I love him and he loves me, and one day we’ll be able to stay together forever.
People ask us all the time, Isn’t it hard to be so far apart? Absolutely, but we love each other so we are putting in the effort to make our relationship work. We spend breaks from school with each other and count down the number of days until we’ll see each other next (18 days). And when the moment finally comes (after a, hopefully, painless plane ride) to see each other, we cherish every moment. Long distance is a battle that isn’t for everyone, but when you love someone, you will do anything to stay with them forever.
People also love to ask: How do you know it will last forever? Because, we just know that we are meant for each other. We’ve known for awhile that we are going to spend the rest of lives with each other. Some people think it’s insane, but we don’t care. We love each other more than we could ever love another person and we know what kind of dog we want to get once we live together, how many children we want, and baby names we like. We even have things picked out for a future home. And if that bothers you, or you think I’m too young to be in love and marry someone, that’s a you problem. I don’t need anyone’s approval to be with the man I love. All that should matter to you is that we are both happy and loving life.
So to the people that don’t believe that my relationship, and all the other ones won’t make it, I ask you to keep your opinions to yourselves and let us all be in love. Don’t ruin what we have with negativity. We know that it’s hard and the situation isn’t realistic, but we’re doing what we need to do to make things work for us.
Sincerely,
A Jersey girl in love with Coloradan.
