In the two and a half years that I've been with my boyfriend, we've done our fair share of distance including living eight hours away from each other, living one hour away from each other, and living exactly 10 minutes down the road from each other (eight minutes if you manage to hit every light on green).

Because we've literally done it all and know it first hand, I assumed that everyone else was on the same page as we were: the longer the distance, the harder things are. Apparently, I was mistaken as I stumbled upon this article, claiming that people who are in short distance relationships have it just as hard as people in long relationships.

I'm sorry... what?

First of all, let me say that if you have never been in a relationship with a significant amount of distance between you and your partner (and I'm talking more than an hour), you definitely don't get it. You definitely do not understand having so spend either a full day in the car or a full paycheck on airfare to see your significant other. You don't understand having to account for the time difference between you two when calling each other. You don't understand the feeling of knowing that the person who means the most to you is creating memories every day that you'll never be included in.

And I'm not even going to get into the amount of trust that you need to have...

I understand that even in short distance no matter how close you live to one another, you will never be with each other 24/7 (at least you shouldn't be, because you both need space) and you will inevitably miss each other the second one of you leaves. Missing somebody even after a few minutes and miles between the two of you is a valid feeling. And yes, missing somebody is incredibly hard, even if it is just in a short distance relationship.

The difference is that you'll likely see your significant other again in a day or two. When you say goodbye you know that it's only temporary and that missing them will be over within a few days when you're reunited. In a short distance relationship, you don't have to experience the agony that comes along with missing someone for weeks upon weeks on end and spending each day obsessively checking your mental countdown until you get to see your other half again.

By no means does long distance make the love more real and by no means does short distance mean that you two have a stronger bond by being able to see each other every day. Both types of relationships require real love and real feelings of missing each other. But don't you dare belittle my long distance relationship by saying you have it just as hard and miss your boyfriend just as much. Until you have experienced living hours away and no longer having the luxury of being with each other whenever you want, you'll never understand how distance truly does make the heart grow fonder and work harder.