I met my boyfriend at a college party. On the scale of cheesiness, I'd say that's a small step down from meeting on Tinder. My friend dragged me to a party in an apartment full of people I had never met and left me to go talk to her sorority sisters. I just stood in a corner, sipping on a Mike's Hard Lemonade and wishing I was back in my dorm, when a guy stumbled up to me and introduced himself. He was obviously drunk, and by the looks of it, a very friendly drunk too.
Oh joy.
I thought he was cute, but I had already decided I was going to be in a bad mood that night, so I shrugged off the arm he had slung around my shoulder and went to go find my friend.
Somehow, the same friend managed to rope me into going to another party the next night. I saw the same guy from the night before, sober this time but just as energetic. At some point, the alcohol loosened me up enough to where I worked up the nerve to talk to him. The conversation was cut short when my friend started throwing up off the porch balcony and I was charged with caring for her. I quickly gave him my Instagram before rushing off. It was like the college version of Cinderella leaving her glass slipper.
A few weeks later I got a message from him asking me on a date. It must have gone well, because over 6 months later we're still together.
What I didn't realize when we first met was that he didn't go to my school. He didn't even live in the same city. He had just driven 2 and a half hours from Charlotte to Asheville to visit a friend that weekend. Like me, he had school and work to attend to so he could only visit me on the weekends. The times he was free and able to visit amounted to around one weekend a month.
The longer I dated him, the more difficult it became to say goodbye after our weekends together. It wasn't all that bad though. Texting and FaceTiming made it feel almost as though we were actually together. Almost.
The reality of being in a long distance relationship didn't really hit me until I went home for Christmas break. The 7 hour distance between my hometown and Charlotte made the normal distance between us seem as tiny as the walk from my room to the kitchen. I struggled with the thought that this was going to be my reality for the foreseeable future.
Long distance relationships are tough. It sucks when all you wanna do is hug your significant other but you know you'll have to wait a whole month to do so, maybe more. Seeing couples on my campus holding hands while they walk to class together sometimes fills me with a sudden resentment. I can't help but think it's not fair that they see each other every day while all I have is FaceTime calls that get disconnected by the spotty school wifi.
All relationships require trust, but long distance relationships even more so. When the person you love is hundreds of miles away, it's hard not to have some doubts. They could be doing absolutely anything behind your back, and you would likely never know. The amount of faith you have to place in your significant other in a long distance relationship is astronomical, and honestly kinda scary.
If I wanted to, I could date someone I go to school with. I would be able to see them everyday, eat dinner with them, watch movies together, and hold hands on our way to class. It would be so much easier. But none of it would be worth it, because I can't imagine loving someone else as much as I love my boyfriend. Every time I see him, I'm even more excited than I was the last time.
So yeah, long distance relationships suck. You just gotta find the person who makes the suckiness all worth it.
