I think everyone’s initial thought of a long distance relationship is, it'll never work. Your friends may advise you to not take it too seriously and even your own heart is a little guarded because so many things could go wrong.

This thought certainly crossed my mind when I first started dating my boyfriend. We met freshman year of college. I transferred, he stayed. Now, in reality, this doesn’t seem like such a bad reality. Our previous school is only a 30-minute commute from my hometown and we can see each other a lot more frequently than the relationships that continue across the country- or even across the world.

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Yes, school may be close- but the commute between my house and his is a good hour and a half, and that’s not taking into consideration the traffic, which almost always comes with it. The real problem is our schedules.

He works long hours and I work almost opposite his schedule. There’s never a guarantee that our school work and extra curriculars will line up. And the little things like coming over for a movie night, or surprising me for a fast food run late at night are always out of the question.

I love, love. I love couples with cute PDA, I love a good romance movie on a Sunday night and I love being in a relationship. I'm also most certainly a needy girlfriend; I need hugs and kisses on a rainy day, I need attention and adventures. I want to come home after a long, stressful day of class and be able to lay down with my boyfriend. I thought I could never do long distance simply because of the idea of losing all that.

The truth is, although distance can be a bitch and get in the way of having a “normal” relationship, the differences only makes the relationship that much more special. You may not be able to do the cliché things most couples do, but it’s the little things that matter most.

So when people ask you why would you ever enter a long distance relationship, well…there is no real answer to that because sometimes it's hard, sometimes there are issues that don’t always arise in other relationships. It's not always easy, but it is well worth it. To me a long distance relationship is a choice; I travel the distance not because I have to, but because I want to.

If you are willing to go lengths for another person you know that's love. You only want to be with that one person and it just so happens that space is left in between. It gives the relationship more strength, more love, more happiness. The hardest goodbyes make for the greatest hellos.