Always and Forever

"So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day." -The Notebook

Dustin and I both knew going into this relationship that being away from each other was not going to be an easy thing. But we both know that it is absolutly worth it, because soon we will be together and not have to worry about any distance separating us. Nothing else is as important to me as he is, he is the love of my life and it's going to be us, always and forever. I love you baby.

Jets

Here's a look at what Dustin's been up to with the Jets

I am so proud and happy for him that he gets this great opportunity, i can't help but also be a little envious that I don't get to spend this time with him. One of the qualities I love about him is his desire to suceed and strong work ethic. I am thankful that with those qualities he can balance out our relationships, because like he said me and my 20+ majors. (not really but I'm quite diverse)

I feel bad getting upset or jealous that he has these other things that consume his time, is it so bad to want to have him all to myself? I would never tell him to put something on hold or give something up on account of me, I just get frustrated sometimes. I miss him so much and it gets hard to share him with other things.

I know what he is doing now will only help us in the future and I can't complain about that. He is such an amazing person and should be so proud of all he has achomplished academically, because I definatly am.

I love you baby, always and forever.

I consider myself to be very lucky to have found someone so early in life and in such a way that give's us such an amazing story. It's a bittersweet thing, to know you have the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, but to be separated from them by hundreds of miles. If I could would I have changed the distance from the beginning? That's a hard question to answer. While I would give anything to be with Dustin all the time and to see him whenever I want; our distance relationship makes us stronger. Im not sure, if I could do it all again, would I change it? There were so so many time I would have given anything to have just be able to pick up and move to where he is. It gets so difficult and so heartbreaking to be away from each other. But the positive result of all of it is that our relationship is going to be so much stronger and we will be able to deal with so many challenges that may come our way in our lives because we delt with something early on and made it through together.

It's been two years, how the time flies. I guess it tends to go by a little quicker when the majority of the time is spent counting down days until the next time we see each other. It amazes me all the things we've got to experiece together despite being separated during a good portion of these 2 years. I've had the pleasure of traveling with his family, we've gone on road trips to visit my grandparents, and each time we are together there is always something we want to share with each other. We've learned to appreciate things more and cherish the time we spend together. Even a dinner and a movie, which most people probably take for granet, is special to us because its a moment we get to share together. I think that even when we do have the luxury of living in the same place, we won't loose that appreciation of each other. We know that we are so lucky to be together and we should cherish every single moment.

We're in the home stretch right now, Dustin and I are in our last years of school and soon we will be together. It is a constant course of hope for us, the idea of not having to deal with distance and just being together whenever we want to be. I have no doubt that our plans for the future will work out for us, but no matter what our love can withstand whatever life brings us.

I love you baby always and forever.

The Story, The Future, and Getting Closer

Gina and I have many methods of telling our story on how we ended up together, the short story (for those who know the people involved in us finding eachother), the detailed story (for those not familiar with those involved), and the speedy story (for when we are tired of telling the same story 3x a day, even-though it is a great story :) I Love you babe). I believe that love cannot be forced upon and that it must come when it is time. Some people find it at 16, others at 35 and that is what makes love so interesting but yet confusing. When Gina flew over to Indiana in the summer of '07, I had no idea that I would end up with the love of my life, but yet I did want to meet her. Love can do many things to people and when I met Gina for the first time, it was honestly love at first sight, yeah some people don't believe in that (but neither did I at first), and I defiantly do now from my whole experience. The feeling is indescribable and the connection is...well....just there...and again, it's nothing you can force on anyone. I hate it when people say, "ohh long distance relationships don't last" or like on MTV, the show "True Life" (or whatever it's called), it shows long distance relationships failing all the time and it doesn't always end up like that. If you honestly love someone enough, distance won't matter because love is the strongest thing a person can have for someone else and if its strong enough, nothing will tear it down and I known that me and Gina are at that point and always have been since day 1.

The future for me is not totally up in the air but is relying the pieces to fall in the right order. I am wanting to get my Masters at ASU (Arizona State University) for obvious reasons, but also for professional reasons as well. I then want to hopefully get a season long intern with an NFL team or head straight into the work force. Gina is about to finish up school and has many opportunities with her 20+ majors (just kidding babe :). It's an exciting time in our life but yet a scary one too, because were totally not sure if everything will fall in the right pieces, and if not, so be it, we will still be able to work it out and move on together. Which brings me to another point, even when your future isn't all planned out and your worried that things might not workout with your significant other, don't worry because if the love is there, Love conquers everything.

One thing that Gina and I do is a "countdown" to the days till we see eachother. There is good and bad to that. The good is that when you are in single digits the time flys by, the bad is when you have 30+ days till you see eachother. So something we always say when we are roughly 2-3 weeks from seeing eachother is that, "we are getting closer" and "I get to see you :)" mainly for a mental thing to keep us going. We both spoil eachother a lot though (compared to other distance relationships) in seeing eachother because I'll admit it, it's hard not to see eachother for so many days , especially when you don't know when the next time you will see eachother again. Which brings me to a story, I don't remember the exact date, but one random weekend I surprised Gina on a flight out to AZ and the whole experience when I called her to tell her that I am in AZ was cute, funny, and VERY emotional at the same time. I remember calling her and all she could do was cry and say "Are you really here?". It was a special moment, especially when she was like, "but I don't have any make-up on, I don't smell good, my hair is bad, and I'm crying." That moment will forever stick in my memory and it kept our relationship new and exciting, which is always needed.

I feel like I just gave a presentation and lesson/tips on distance dating (which wasn't my complete purpose), but I felt like it needed to be out there and be known that Love is an incredible thing and it can make you crazy (but in a good way) and nothing can stand in it's way if it is strong enough. With Gina, nothing can do that because our love is soo powerful and will last forever and ever. I Love you sweetheart!

wouldnt it be nice.....

You will never hear either of us say distance is easy. Being apart from the person you love has got to be one of the most emotionally challenging things.

Just think, I can't call Dustin up on a Friday night and say "wanna go out?" or just to hang out with each other. There are so many people in relationships right now that take it for granet. Really, it almost makes me mad when i see couples who have the luxury of being in the same place, fighting and arguing when they should just feel lucky that they get to be with each other. Then it will sometimes turn into

jealousy because I don't think it's fair that they get to be together and I can't be with the one I love. It get so hard sometimes, but the one thing that keeps both of us going in knowing that someday soon we won't have to worry about distance any longer, soon we will be together.

Just like the beach boys say, "wouldnt it be nice if we were older, then we wouldnt have to wait so long..."

I love you baby always and forever.

Another Day Without You

So here I am again at 10:30 pm and just getting off work with the Jets. One thing that is hard about this whole intern thing is that I don't get to talk to you a lot (only at night when I'm going to bed) and that drives me crazy compared to when I'm back in Indy and I get to talk to you a couple of times throughout the day. I miss you sweetheart more and more everyday. One thing that we have learned throughout the years is that Webcam for long distance relationships is a lifesaver.....BUT DO NOT USE THEM UNTIL A COUPLE OF DAYS AFTER YOU DEPART FROM EACH OTHER.....I remember when we first got Webcams (for Christmas one year) and when we left each other after being together for a week or so, we talked when we both got back that night and it was one of the most emotional times of our lives! But anyways it's late and I'm tired. I Love You Babe!!!!

The First one from Dustin

K, well I'm new to this blogging so cut me some slack for the first couple of blogs. I am currently in New York/New Jersey with the Jets as an intern for Sports Medicine and about 3 weeks into it. I didn't think going to New York would make things harder distance wise since we are already some 1,000 miles away from each other, but it def does. It sucks not being able to talk to you as much and it's always the little things that remind me of you and it seems to happen at least 10x a day. One thing I have learned about long distance love/dating/practically married relationships is that you make sure to make use of every second together and cherish every moment and to live with no regrets and I think we do a great job in making sure that we enjoy every moment to its fullest. Like always I wish we could just be together and knowing that you are safe. I Love You Babe, forever and always!