When I met my boyfriend, I had never anticipated it to grow into what it did. We went to high school together and spoke briefly right after we graduated, but then I went away to college and he started a full-time job, and we never spoke again.

When I came home from college for the summer after my sophomore year, he asked me on a date, and I thought it would be a harmless summer romance. Never would I imagine that I had met the love of my life. We hung out for the first time on June 1st, and I was moving back to college, an hour away, on July 1st. We had exactly one month, 30 days, to build a foundation for a strong relationship before we were separated for the foreseeable future.

Long distance sucks. Long distance means short phone calls to check up on each other 5 times a day. Long distance means staying up late when we are together just so we can spend a little extra time together. Long distance means driving 45 minutes on an empty tank of gas at 10 pm after work and getting up at 7 am to drive another 45 minutes back to school, just so we can sleep in the same bed.

Long distance means being emotional 24/7. It means crying when you leave each other because you don't know when you might see each other again. Being busy, broke college kids, we have to make time for school, work, friends, family, and extracurricular activities, on top of each other, and we don't even live in the same city. It means late night phone calls consisting of "I miss you."

Yes, long distance sucks. But I think it makes us better. Long distance has taught me to appreciate everything my boyfriend does for me just a little more. When he knows I'm missing him a little extra, he'll hop in his car and drive to my college, just so he can cook me dinner. The time we get to spend together is so much more special because we don't get that much of it. We have learned how important it is to communicate, how important it is to tell one another exactly what is in our mind and to never leave our feelings a mystery.

We only had one month, 30 days, to build a connection that could withstand distance. And we did it, and we have done nothing but grow since then.

Yes, long distance sucks, but when you love someone, how far away you are from them means nothing.

Maybe distance really does make the heart grow fonder.