We all hoped we would meet someone special in college, right? Well, if you're reading this, you are one of the lucky ones. Sometimes, though, we don't feel so lucky.
So, you've met the person you want to be adventurous with and introduce to all of your friends. You've met the person you know your parents already love, or will love, and who you can talk to about anything. You've met the person you can't get off your mind, and who you can never spend too much time with. Sometimes, your class schedules match up and you can grab food on campus, or simply have someone to walk you home. Being in a relationship in college isn't for everyone, but you've found that you could get used to this.
Plot twist: you're from two different states.
This doesn't matter to you during your time together at school; it doesn't phase you. In fact, it has given you more to talk about as a couple. It has given you more to learn. While you're at school, you could probably conquer the world with this person. A day without seeing or talking to each other would just be out of the ordinary. When it's time to go home over a break, you suddenly don't feel like yourself. Something is missing. Heading home has never felt so bittersweet.
Meeting people in college means you'll have friends from all over the country, and chances are the person you date will not be your next door neighbor from back home. Whether you are an hour away, or eight hours away from your significant other, the distance is a huge adjustment after spending such long, consecutive amounts of time together. The texts and calls are constant, and you count down the days until it's time to go back to school every time you miss your favorite person.
On the days you are finally reunited, everything you waited for over break is worth it a million times over. The feeling you get when he or she hugs you for the first time in weeks or even months is indescribable. It is quite possibly one of the best feelings, and the fact that it is built up over a long period of time makes it that much more exciting. These days are the best days for couples in our types of relationships.
Besides leaving for breaks, it is also difficult getting back into the routine of being together again. This can be thrilling and strange all at the same time. But the strongest couples survive the distance long enough to find their rhythm again, and they stick to finding it no matter what. Couples like us feel foreign in certain situations, together or apart, often more than couples who live in the same area.
We may wish at times that we could live closer to one another in our hometowns, but in a bizarre way, we wouldn't have it any other way. The person we date wouldn't be the person they are without having grown up where they did, as difficult as it may be to endure the distance.
So, yes, we're the lucky ones -- whether we feel like it, or not. Our situation makes us who we are as couples, and we can choose to let it make us stronger. We can even choose to let the occasional distance make us closer as couples, as backward as that seems. The wait is always worth it when you have the right person waiting for you.
