My boyfriend and I have been in a long-distance relationship since we first met. We actually met on Twitter (he slid in my DMs) two years ago, right about the time of my 19th birthday, when he saw a photo of me shared by a brand that I was repping. He mentioned me in a tweet and said that I was "fine" (very smooth, babe), and we became friends.
He was into me; I wanted nothing to do with anyone, and time went on. We both got into serious relationships, but once we were single, he reached out to me again via Twitter. We started talking, almost every day and quickly became close friends. We would FaceTime and share jokes and laughs, and he saw my first margarita-drunk experience via FaceTime. Needless to say, we talked about everything and were very comfortable with one another.
Then, he asked me how I'd feel about coming to Houston where he lived and I thought it would be so cool to meet my online friend IRL. So, he flew me out there, and the rest is history. We hit it off and we fell in love.
Flash forward seven months and we're still long-distance, but we make it work. We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at home with my family, then spent our New Years in New Orleans. It's crazy, but the distance has helped our relationship more than I thought possible.
While he's in Texas and I'm in Florida, we're living our own lives. While he works a full-time job, I'm going to school full-time. When he goes out with his buddies on weekends, I'm out with my friends. We trust each other and we find comfort in the fact that we're both living our separate lives while still being in a relationship.
Yes, it sucks going weeks and sometimes months without seeing each other, but it makes the moments that we do get to see each other that much more special. When we're apart, we find ways to have dates or make our time apart special. We have FaceTime dates where we'll both go and get the same food (Whataburger) and turn on a series that we're binge-watching ("The Mandalorian" and "The Witcher"), or we get on the Xbox and join a party and play Call of Duty together (I'm really bad at it, but he's proud of me for trying).
The little things really help us get by in our time apart. We're very involved in each other's lives, and whenever one of us is sad or is having a hard time, we'll send each other memes to cheer us up or remind us of our inside jokes and our future together.
It isn't always easy, but once you find that person that makes you feel like you're on top of the world and showers you with love, the distance won't ever matter.