The Art of Long Distance

Growing up, I never really believed in true love. I always wanted to, I mean, what little girl doesn't want their knight in shining armor to save them from the grand evils of the world? But, it was never a realistic goal for me. My dad abandoned my family when I was four and my mom divorced him when I was ten, so "true love" seemed like a fabricated lie that was only found in movies and the suburbs.

I never noticed this about myself until I was in high school. I found myself not wanting to date anyone because I never thought it would amount to anything but a breakup or, on the off chance that I would get married, a divorce. I made it all the way to graduation only having one six-month wreck of relationship in my sophomore year. I was doing great with my pessimistic "true love doesn't exist, you are all fooling yourselves" view of the world until it all changed. Enter Nick.

Nick was (and still is) a looker. Dark features, bright, blue eyes, tan and toned skin. He was the most handsome boy I had ever laid eyes on. We met over social media, as most people do these days, and he asked me out on a date within two days of our initial conversation. It was June 29, and I started college in less than two months. College, for me, was a grand total of 721.8 miles away from home, and subsequently, away from Nick. However, being the risk-taker that I am, I spent a total of 3 hours talking to my mom about why the date was a bad idea until she convinced me to go. Needless to say, the date went amazing and it didn't stop there. For the next two months, I found myself spending every waking moment with him. He quickly became my best friend and I knew I didn't want to let go of the love that had started to form.

With move-in day quickly approaching, I became frantic. I didn't know what to do. There was no way I was letting Nick become a summer fling. I knew that I wanted to keep him in my life and to see where it would take us, but I also knew that distance was hard. The night before move in day, I spent hours upon hours crying in his arms, wondering what would happen to us, praying for God to give us a fighting chance. That's when I knew Nick was my true love. I had never used the term "us" before when referring to a boyfriend or someone I liked. Somehow, Nick made me believe in "true love," something even Disney itself couldn't do.

It is always the first week that goes by the slowest. We FaceTimed every night, telling each other every detail of the day that had past. I cried, he cried, but we eventually got past the initial sadness and got used to learning to love each other from afar. Of course, we still had our ups and downs. Sometimes, I would think the distance was too far and too much, but Nick always reminded me that our love was too good and too strong. Nick's confidence in our relationship never fails and he gives me the strength to have courage that the love we have is enough. I think that's an important part of long distance. While the distance pulls you apart, you have to rely on one another to pull each other back.

Another important aspect of making the distance work is setting out quality time for each other. Without good, quality time that is spent focused on the other person, the relationship will start to wear down and become basic.

While visiting each other can be hard, trying your best to see that person as much as possible will only strengthen the relationship. This part is tough for us because we are both broke college students. However, I got blessed to have four-day-weekends and cheap flights from Florida to Virginia.

Most importantly, you need to have trust in the other person. Trust is a foundation of love. Without it, doubt starts to settle inside your heart. Doubt has been, and always will be, a monster.

Although Nick is far away, I have never felt more loved by anyone else in my life (besides my mother, of course). He is kind, caring, sweet, and completely brilliant. He motivates me to do better every day of my life and I can't imagine my life without him. Ever since we started dating, there hasn't been a doubt in my mind that he is the one I am supposed to spend forever with. 721.8 miles is a short distance when you compare it to forever.

Nick has taught me that distance is only a small matter when love is involved. Learning that love doesn't know distance wasn't easy, but knowing that the love of my life is with me from now until the end, no matter what road we may take to see each other, is more than enough for me.