Sunday, July 26, 2009

Our Story





We decided to do this for a couple of reasons;

First, to express our feelings about the distance and how we make it happen.



Second, to look back on later in our relationship when we finially have the luxury of living in the same place



And lastly, as a peek into what the two of us go through on a daily basis. Even though we may only physically see each other for a short time, our relationship isnt put on hold just because we arn't in the same place. We love each other very much and the thought of one day bein together is what keeps us going.



So I guess the best place to start is at the beginning, everyone always asks us, "How did you meet?"


It all started with Brittany Dowden (shout-out!). She grew up in a small town called Lebanon Indiana and moved out to AZ our sophmore year of High School. She always missed Indiana and decided to move back after we graduated. On one of her trips back to AZ after moving, we began talking about me possibly flying out to Indiana to visit her. I liked the idea of going to the place she had talked so much about and getting to see what all the excitment was. She also had another idea about introducing me to a childhood friend of her whom she though I would like. I agreed to comming out to visit, and said I would meet this guy, but would make no promises about any dating or anything.


When I landed in Indiana Brit was there to pick me up at the airport, along with Dustin, her friend who she thought I should become aquainted with. I went into the situation with Dustin with no intentions or ideas and decided what would it hurt to hang out with him for a week?

As the week went on, my interaction and relationship with Dustin progressed. I would catch myself wondering where he was or if he was going to be hanging out with us that day. I wanted him around, I wanted to be around him. I honestly was beginning to develop feelings for someone I had known less than a week. What was going on? I was so confused but I decided to just go with it and see where it lead me.


One day, we all decided to drive to Kings Island in cincinnati for a little amusment park day trip. Dustin and I spent the whole day together and our flirting progressed. As our day came to a close, we decided to take a trip up the replicated Eifle Tower oberver tower they have at the park. Standing up there watching the sun set, Dustin turned to me and asked me if I would like to accompany him out to dinner-just the two of us. Well I'm sure you can guess what my answer was.


Our first date was on June 30th 2007. He took me out for italian and then we went back to town to take a walk around the park ( insert "awwwww" here). I could tell he was trying to find the right moment to make a move but for the time beging I was just enjoying being there with him, and yes it was amusing to watch him attempt (even though I wanted the exact same thing he did, but its fun to play hard to get ;) ) Now I won't go into exact details as to where or when the first kiss occured, but all I can say was that at that moment, as crazy as it sounds, I knew that he was special.



A few days later I unfortunatly had to leave Indiana. As we got to the airport I tried my best to hold back tears. I am thinking to myself, "why should I be crying, I've known this guy a week?" My feelings and my head were completly scrambled, but all I knew was he was important and something inside of me was saying don't leave him. He promised we'd see each other again and I thanked him for making me feel more important than I had in a long time. I cried the whole plane ride home, confused and upset, just wanting to go back and be with him again. I kept wondering if he was really serious about seeing me again or if this was just going to be a summer romance that I would hold onto.







This all was two years ago, Dustin and I have never lived in the same place, we fly back and forth to see each other multiple times a year. We're very lucky in that aspect that we get to see each other more than many long-distance couples, but it does not make the time apart any easier. Everytime I tell our story I get the same reaction, "That must be so hard, I could never do that!" My only response to that is that true love can stand the test of anything, time, distance whatever, and if you can't do it then it's not true. We knew going into it, it wasn't going to be easy but this distance will make us stronger in the long run. We've learned to appreciate things more when we're together and developed a relationship that isn't based on pure physical proximity.



Even though our relationship is difficult, I still consider myself a lucky one to have met someone in such a unique way and to share a bond with them that can transend the test of distance and time. Someday we wont have to worry about distance, but we will always look back at our time apart as the time when our love and relationship grew into a foundation for the rest of our lives.