To be completely honest, I never thought long distance could work; I’ve actually always frowned upon it. When thinking about it early on in our relationship, we both agreed that it would never work out. We are currently 550 miles apart when I’m used to him only being a ten-minute car ride away. That’s a big difference from the now ten-hour car ride away that he is.

We would only be seeing each other every month (ish), so I constantly thought, how could this work? How could this be a real relationship? How could this become our new normal? When we first started thinking about all of this we had two different options. We either break up, or we test it out and see what happens. Well, we definitely didn’t want to break up so we decided to suck it up.

When we first began our long distance relationship I hated it, I mean who would like this? But as I started getting used to it, all those doubts I had went away. I realized that this could work out, considering that it has been. Even though he is so far, it is still a relationship. And this has become our new normal. It might sound cliché, but when you love someone so much anything can work. I guess maybe it comes with age and maturity, but when you meet someone you really want to be with you work at it every day and overcome any obstacle thrown your way.

Trust me when I say it’s not easy. There will come a time in your long distance relationship when your heart will hurt so badly and that’s when you realize how in love you really are. There may even be multiple times like this. For me, there have been countless times when I’ve had really bad days and all I wanted to do was see him, give him a hug and have all my problems go away. Even though I would give anything to change this situation I know I can’t. That’s something you have to accept when you’re in a long-distance relationship. Whatever the reason is why they are away, whether it be college, a job or anything else, they’re doing something that they have to do. In my case, we have to go to college in order to build our own futures or even a future together. While these four years may be hard, it won’t even be a big deal in the long run.

There are also a few good things that come out of a long distance relationship, such as appreciation, and trust. When I do get to see him, even if it is only for a long weekend, I appreciate the time I have with him so much more. I also never knew that I could become so happy from a simple phone call. I know when the time comes again that I can see him every day for a longer period of time, such as winter and summer break, I will also appreciate that so much more, and never take one day for granted. Also, when you don’t get to see your significant other for weeks at a time you learn to develop huge trust for one another. They could be anywhere and you wouldn’t even know that’s why you need trust. You also don’t know who their new friends are. For me, this was one of the hardest parts. Most of his friends from before college I became good friends with as well. I knew they would always look out for him, and even me as well. So for now, until I go to visit him, I don’t even personally know who he spends all his time with. Which for me is really hard, because I’m jealous of the people that get to see him every day.

It's really hard to not see the person you love for long periods of time, but when you finally get to see them that feeling is priceless. My best interpretation of finally seeing him is that it feels like Christmas. The night before I went to pick him up at the airport I couldn’t sleep. I had that feeling I used to get as a child going to sleep on Christmas Eve. Then when you finally wake up on Christmas morning and you see your present… Best. Feeling. Ever.

I miss him so much, basically all the time. Even though it hurts a lot sometimes, and it's really hard I wouldn't change it for the world. I’ll always have something to look forward to every month or so. It’ll be like Christmas every month!

So the saying is true that when you love someone so much you would do anything to make it work. Long distance relationships may be really hard, but at the same time, they can be incredible if you make the most of your situation. If you love, trust and support each other every step of the way when you are apart, then you know you will always be unstoppable when you are together.