When it comes to the 14th of February everyone seems to have different opinions; those in relationships use it as a day to do something special while those not in one like to refer to it as “singles awareness day.” But how you feel about Valentine’s Day isn’t so clear-cut when you’re in a long distance relationship.
To give some background, my boyfriend and I just hit our six-year anniversary. We started dating our freshman year of high school, so when it came to our senior year and applying to college we both agreed that we would go to the school that we felt was the best fit for each of us. As great as it would’ve been to go to the same college together we both knew that we had to put our educations first, and doing that would mean we wouldn’t go to the same school, or even schools close to each other, with me coming to Michigan while he goes to school in Pennsylvania. Once we found out where we’d be going we agreed to give long distance a shot. We both knew it wouldn’t be easy, but also knew how much we cared about each other and our relationship, so we decided to try our best. Seeing how I’m a junior now and we’re still together I’d say we’ve been doing pretty well. We try and text each other often to talk about how our days went and what’s new, but we both lead fairly busy lives, him because he’s double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, and me because of my schoolwork and extracurriculars. The fact that we both live very busy lives helps us to not get too hung up on how much we miss each other.
But when it comes to Valentine’s Day my emotions tend to be a mixed bag. I fall into the category of having a SO, but I also fall in the category of not being able to do much to celebrate. I end up having part of myself that gets excited because it gives us an excuse to put aside our work and Skype each other a little longer than normal, but at the same time it makes me wish we could be going out to a nice dinner or even just order pizza and watch Friends on Netflix together in person. There are very few things I would describe as “fun” about being long distance, and I definitely wouldn’t say there’s anything easy about it, and Valentine’s Day sometimes is just a reminder of those things. So what’s a girl to do?
As much as it makes me sad that we can’t be together for special occasions like this I try and focus on the parts of our relationship that make me happy. We’ll try and make each other laugh over Skype or see who can solve the daily mini crossword the fastest (I’ve beat him the last two days). Sometimes we’ll send each other little Valentine’s Day care packages, and we usually try to schedule a visit sometime in February so we can make up our Valentine’s Day and anniversary celebrations into one. Just finding ways to make each other smile and create your own Valentine’s Day helps make occasions like this one suck a little less. No, long distance isn’t fun or easy, but in the moment when you finally get to see each other again I’d say it’s all worth it.
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