This Valentine’s Day will be the first one that I spend in a relationship. It feels weird to think about celebrating Valentine’s Day in the traditional sense and not making it a “Galentine’s Day” or just getting candy from my parents like in years past. This is actually quite intimidating because this is also the first time that I have had to think about Valentine’s Day presents (which is one of the hardest parts of being in a relationship in my opinion). As happy as I am to finally partake in the celebration of love, there is one major barrier to enjoying the day: we live in two different states.
“Being away from the person I love is excrutiatingly painful on a daily basis”
The distance between us is not a problem that is exclusive to Valentine’s Day, but it does make this day in particular a little more painful. I already know that come February 14th, my Instagram feed will be flooded with all of these happy couples going out to dinner and giving each other flowers and chocolate while I am at home with no plans. While this is typical for me as I have always managed to be single on Valentine’s day, it will be different this time because I will not be wishing for a relationship, but rather wishing we were together instead of seven hours apart. Being away from the person I love is excruciatingly painful on a daily basis, but it will hurt more on that day, I just know it. I am already not looking forward to it. Just like every other holiday that we have to spend apart, I will have to rely on Facetime calls and mailing presents to get me through the day. I would give anything to be able to go out together and celebrate our relationship, but the universe has other plans for me this year.
In some ways, it feels a little ridiculous to care this much because it is just one day and we could always do the same things we would normally do during our next visit. Reminding myself of this does not make me feel any better though, because I will still be spending the day seven hours away from the person I want to be with most. I know I will be spending many more Valentine’s days, birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmases by myself in the future, but hopefully going through all of this now means that eventually, we will be able to celebrate all of these holidays together as a couple.