I met my boyfriend on an app that my college sent me a link to so that I could make friends before coming to college. He posted a photo of himself on the app and I thought, "okay, he's cute" and did what any other girl would do, I followed him on Instagram. And no joke, 30 seconds later I had this message:

After getting that message, I was on cloud nine. This attractive boy that was going to school with me that I followed on Instagram direct messaged me. That was definitely a good sign. Unfortunately, though after a few messages back and forth, I came to find out that the cute boy that sent me the message lived 2,000 miles away and we were nowhere close to going to school considering it was only April. But, we talked anyway. In fact, the night that he sent me that message, I laid on my bedroom floor talking to him until 3 a.m.

I knew that night that I stayed up until the morning that he was something special, that I was going to fall hard and fast for him. And let me tell you, life gave me exactly what I expected, a hard and fast fall. We talked for days upon days and every conversation, I got to know him a little more and a little bit better. I got to slowly begin to fall in love with the boy I had never met.

While this all sounds crazy, it is absolutely what happened. Nearly everyone has this powerful tool with them constantly called a cell phone. It allows us to constantly be able to communicate with anyone, anywhere, any time. It allowed me to find my person. The person that I can't imagine going through college without. Doing long distance with him wasn't perfect. We had fought like a normal couple would, we disagreed, we got upset. We also laughed and joked, smiled, and made memories that I would never trade.

At this point, you may be wondering, well did they ever meet? Let me go ahead and answer that for you, yes we did. I made a joke one day about how crazy it would be if he took me to prom and well, see for yourself.

We also thought it would be fun if I went to Texas and visited him for a while.

Being in a long distance relationship with someone you have never met is a lot more difficult than being in a long distance relationship with someone that you have already established a connection with. In my relationship, there was not a foundation already set, nor did we have a strong trust established which is key in a long distance relationship. Embarking on a long distance relationship with someone you have never met is a struggle, but the moment that we met for the first time in person was one the best moments I have ever experienced, just being in his arms for the first time and getting to finally hold his hand.

These relationships are never easy. It's that simple. They are hard and emotionally draining. There are days when you just want to give up because it doesn't feel like it is worth it anymore, but I want to tell you that it is. At the end of the day, you will have made it. Every time that I picked up my boyfriend from the airport or he picked me up, those are the moments that I cherish. The moments that made all of the hard days worth it. Long distance relationships will always be what you make of them, but I am here to tell you that they are completely worth it.