You can call it cliche, call it puppy love, or even call it insane... But I call it kismet. A fairy tale. True love.

In a world with Tinder, MeetMe, Match.com, and other social media sites, it's not uncommon for people to be in long distance relationships. I'm one of those people who met their partner on an app, and my partner just so happens to live 584 miles away from me.

Many people argue that long distance relationships aren't real relationships. That you have to be in the same place as your partner in order to be truly dating them. How can you connect with someone who is so far away from you? How can you really know them?

Others argue that they feel more connected to a person hundreds of miles away than to a person right down the road.

I have always been in love with the thought of being in love. Every partner I had was just a filler. They occupied my time while I waited for the next best thing. Each had a different name and face, but they were all the same... Bums who couldn't achieve their goals because they didn't have any. They had no interest in bettering themselves.

I downloaded an app called Whisper, where people go to post anonymous confessions. Most of the posts are just thirsty and posted by people looking for flings. I found one post that was especially thirsty, so I decided to give a sarcastic and slightly snarky reply. Lo and behold, I received a direct message within an hour. I expected the average hormone-driven teenager who thinks with a different kind of head than the one on their shoulders. I expected to exchange a few naughty messages, send a quick half-effort picture, and move on to the next one.

I didn't expect what actually happened.

I didn't expect to fall in love.

It took me three days to fall in love. We talked constantly and my face was permanently glued in a smile. I didn't even know what to do with myself. I forgot about everyone else in the world and my entire being focused on him. This guy named Demarius from Wisconsin.

There was something different about him. (Yeah, everyone says that about someone, but this is a time when it's true.) He was literate. He was witty. He was interesting. He could hold a conversation. I hadn't ever met someone who could keep a conversation interesting or type more than "Wyd," or "Nothing, hbu." Most people wouldn't even text me back, let alone type out a full sentence. (I'm an English Writing major, so texting is a big deal for me.)

Three days later, on Halloween, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I immediately said yes, completely ignoring the fact that I already had a few other boyfriend-half partner-things at that time. Choosing him over all the others seemed right. I didn't even hesitate.

We started writing our terms and conditions. How do we want this to work? Right away, I said I wanted to take things slow. I had rushed every single relationship I had ever entered, and I wanted things to be different with him. He seemed truly, incredibly special... There was this intangible quality about him that made me want to see this through. That made me fall in love with him.

Out loud, I said I wanted to take things slow. But the moment those words left my mouth I wanted to say, "I love you."

It took another three days for us to both say the three magic words. When we finally exchanged them through a groggy conversation in the wee hours of the morning, time stopped. So did my heart. For the first time ever, I actually meant it when I said, "I love you."

But even though we love each other almost more than ourselves, it hasn't been the rosiest relationship. It's been full of arguments, disagreements, weak cell phone signals, lost connections, tears, heartache, and even the temptation to leave. The temptation to take the easy way out and find someone closer. We're 600 miles away; it'd be so easy.

Long distance sucks ass, and it can go bite the big one. It flat out sucks and it can tear you apart. It's emotionally exhausting. It tries to rip your heart into a million tiny pieces. It puts tears in your eyes every night when you have to fall asleep alone. It makes your entire being ache when you see other couples doing the things you want to do with your partner. It's not fair, and it's certainly not easy.

There's a quote from one of my favorite movies that helps me push through every single day. Allan, from the movie "What If," says, "It's complicated. All this love shit's complicated. And that's good. Because if it's too simple you've got no reason to try, and if you've got no reason to try, you don't."

None of the bullshit that comes from long distance relationships can compare to the happy times. The love, the laughter, the deep and intellectual conversations at 4 a.m., the good morning text messages, the "I miss you" voicemails, the letters sent with love via snail mail, the Netflix dates, the meme swapping, or every single time you think of your partner. Every last smile makes up for every last tear. And for me, everything came from one direct message.

The chances of us ever finding each other were astronomically small, but we still ended up together somehow. Out of all the centuries, out of all the locations around the globe, I ended up in the same time frame, in the same geographic region. I ended up with him. Call it luck, destiny, or fate. I call it all of that. I call it meant to be. I call it perfect.