Your Family Tree

Every “bing” of the cell phone, your hearts flutters. You think to yourself, “Is it him? Did he text me?”

You impatiently sit by your laptop, waiting to see his face when he logs on to skype. You think to yourself “How much longer? When can I see him?”

Every happy couple you walk by, you can’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy. “Why can your relationship be like theirs?”

Being in a long distance relationship is a different (and difficult) kind of love. It requires patience, understanding, flexibility, loyalty, and faith.

When my then-boyfriend (now-husband) and I started getting serious, there was a time where we had to do long distance. Our hearts belonged together but the reality was that we couldn’t be physically located together for some time. It was more about timing than anything. I had things in my career and education that I couldn’t give up, and he had things in his life.

Neither of us was in a position to move for the other. We had to make the choice: break up or make it work long-distance.

Breaking up was simply NOT an option.

So we stayed together… by living apart.

Then the backlash came. Our family and friends gave us some grief. No matter what I tried to say, they weren’t 100% convinced that we were 100% committed.

“How is this going to work?” they asked. “Long-distance Relationships always end badly!” they said. I knew in my heart, however, that no matter how far I was apart from my boyfriend, our relationship WOULD last.

I couldn’t let him go. I was so very in love. The thought of breaking up felt like my heart would crumble into pieces, the thought of losing him made me sick, I would be emotionally and mentally devastated.

So I made my decision and I stuck by it. I would not give him up. WE weren’t going to give up. We at least had to try.

And so we did.

The opinions, the haters, the judgement, it certainly hurt, but it didn’t matter to us. We had each other. No matter what opinions your loved ones may have, the both of you must be strong enough to not only cope with them but also deal with the circumstances. The circumstances being that you are away from your love. You can’t hug, kiss, cuddle, or cry on their shoulder. You are constantly longing for that physical touch. Your long distance date nights take place by a laptop or smartphone. While you do “have someone”, being in a long distance relationship can sure make you feel lonely. It’s enough to make anyone question LDRs.

There will be times when you want to give up, but you don’t and you never will because it’s all SO WORTH IT. Here’s why:

True love knows no distance.

If you love each other, and I mean TRULY love each other, being in two different places won’t matter. Distance will not tear you apart because you won’t let it. You find ways to make it work.

Time is even more precious.

After days, weeks, months of anticipation, the reunion that you two will have is indescribable. It truly is like falling in love all over again. In that moment, nothing else in the world matters.