I never thought that I could miss somebody as much as I do, now that I’m in a long distance relationship. First of all, I never thought that I would be the girl to live 1100 miles away from her boyfriend because I had no interest in anyone from my hometown and I didn’t think I could ever handle long distance anyhow. But things happen and I eventually changed my mind. Now I’m extremely in love and counting down the days until I get to see the amazing guy that I consider to be the love of my life (and I do not say this light heartedly).

Part of the challenge is not having each other physically. When I wasn’t eighteen hours away from home, I spent every moment possible with my boyfriend; then our perfect time together came to an abrupt halt. Although it’s only temporary, it’s still incredibly miserable. After a stressful day I can’t climb in bed with him so he can hold me and tell me everything will be okay. When I’m in a good mood I can’t come home to him and hug him as tight as I possibly can and then lay on the couch while we talk about our day. We spent so many rainy days watching movies and eating too much junk food and we went to the animal shelter more often than we should have, and now days like those are put on pause. I would give anything to go back to the day we cuddled by the fire on my patio or the day we got chicken tenders and Gushers from the store and called it a dinner. Being together physically makes up so much of a relationship and I definitely did not think it could be as hard as it is.

Being away from my boyfriend is also complicated because our lives once revolved around each other and now we’re basically living two separate lives. I left home for school, and here I have my team, my sorority and everything else that I’m involved in. I need to manage to do everything I do at school while also making my relationship in Michigan work from Florida. I’m extremely lucky to have an understanding boyfriend that is willing to make long distance work just like I am, but it’s hard to go from being so involved in each other’s lives to only talking on the phone every night before bed and texting throughout the day.

As much as I hate it, being in a long distance relationship admittedly has some perks. My mom always tells me, “distance makes the heart grow fonder,” and of course that isn’t true if a couple really doesn’t belong together, but it has proven to be true in my case. Being so far away from my boyfriend has made us realize how much we actually love each other and that the pain of missing each other will be worth it in the end. I’ve also learned a lot about myself. I’ve figured out that I am capable of more than I know, I’m stronger than I think I am, and that the man I choose to keep by my side should always love me and build me up and never tear me down. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’ll be like when we finally get to hug and kiss again, but I know it’s going to be worth the tremendous pain of the 1100 miles that currently lie between us.