On long distance relationships

Long distance. You never know how truly hard or rewarding it is, until you are actually put into the situation.The tearful goodbyes and those joyful hello's.

Garrett and I are coming upon our 6 month anniversary of our relationship, next week. Wow, how time flies! It's amazing how much can change in your life, in just 6 short months. I have been mulling around a post in my head about long distance relationships. Honestly, I didn't know much about long distance relationship's besides knowing people who have been in one. I hope this will help some couples who are either in a long distance relationship or single adults who might be in one, in the future. I am certainly not an expert, but thought I would share a few things that we have found to be very helpful.

~Skype dates: This is something that has been a lifeline for our relationship. Nothing is worse than longing to see the other person but knowing you are miles away. If you set aside a night (or a couple nights) in the week to just sit and Skype with each other, this makes a world of a difference. Seeing each other, face to face is so, so nice! We have even watched movies together or played games, like Sudoku! Things like that can mix it up a little and make it lots of fun! 

~Day date to somewhere in the middle: This one would only work if you are about a state away. Luckily, Garrett and I are 457 miles apart and it was able to work for us. We met in the Tri-cities area and went to coffee, garage sales, shopping, more sudoku, and a picnic lunch. This is a nice way to mix it up a little! The only thing that I didn't like was the fact that it made for a really long day. It was 3-4 hours driving each way for both of us, plus one day together is just not enough! ;) 

~Communicate, communicate, communicate: This is the key to any relationship that lasts. Especially for the long distance couples, communication is all you have right now so you better learn how to communicate well with one another! Which is great practice for marriage. Long distance is usually harder on the woman's end, so it's important to relay to your man what is really important to you. For example: I really enjoy getting a "Good morning" text from Garrett and I've told him how much I enjoy it. Ever since I relayed that to him, he has made a point to text me in the morning. It's little things like that, that make you feel special and connected to the other individual. 

~Packages, letters, texts, etc..... : Sometimes, the best thing ever is getting a random text in the day from Garrett, telling me how much I mean to him. You seriously can't put a price on that! Packages/letters in the mail are a way to get back to the 'old fashioned' way of doing things and makes the other person feel so special! Garrett sent me flowers on a particularly hard day for me, it made me feel so great that I was on his mind. One time, I sent him pizza to his work and man, oh, man! He absolutely LOVED it! I knew he would love it but I literally had no idea how much! Ladies, send pizza to your man. You know what they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach :)

~Talk about plans for the next visit:  When you miss the other person so much, it can help to plan out the next time you will see one another. Each time we get together we usually have a goal of when we will be together again. It helps to keep things in perspective and know that it won't be forever. 

There are just a few things that we have learned along the way and I'm sure we will learn so much more over the next 6 months!