1100 miles is no match.

Today, I have a sweet story of long distance survival coming from Anita, the lovely lady behind The Long Term Tourist. She and her boyfriend, Jacob, live more than 1,100 miles apart. Their story began during their high school days and has survived into their collegiate years. While Anita works hard on her studies in Los Angeles, Jacob toils away at school in Seattle. Read more about how they navigate their days apart {and look forward to their days together!} below...

Name: Anita

Significant Other's Name: Jacob

When did you start dating? We started dating in high school after being good friends for about a year. I didn't see it coming at all, but I think he knew it was in the works! 

At what point did you begin dating long distance? We started dating long distance when I left for college in Los Angeles and he stayed for college in Seattle. 

How do you fill your days while you're apart? I think we both see this time in our relationship as an opportunity to develop ourselves as individuals, in addition to having the support that we get from our relationship. While we're apart, we try to live really normal collegiate lives. I like to volunteer and explore Los Angeles (and blog about what I find!) and he really likes playing sports with his friends.

What do you find most difficult about being long distance? I think that it can be hard to not feel involved in each others lives. We have separate friends, activities, even cities, and all of those differences can make Seattle to Los Angeles seem like they're on opposite sides of the earth. We try to really keep each other updated on the little things so that we feel very incorporated and comfortable. 

How has long distance changed your relationship? I really do think we've gotten stronger! At first I was just sort of telling myself that to help myself accept the whole thing, but now that we've been doing it for about a year, I can see that we have! Being long distance really forces you to focus on communication, which is such an important part of a relationship for us. I think Jake and I have gotten pretty good at being honest and upfront with each other.

What do you enjoy most about the time you have together? Oh my goodness--so much! Jake is always up for trying new things. We hike, camp, shop, play video games, go on romantic dinner dates, cook, and watch tv together. As lame as it sounds, it feels like no matter what we're doing, we have a good time. He's such a great guy!

Is there any end in sight to your long distance days? We get all of our summers and Christmas-times together, which helps a lot! It's nice to have that time to have a more normal relationship.

Do you have a story of long distance you'd like to share? Email me!

Want to read other stories in this series? Click here!

Thanks again to Anita for sharing her perspective on how they make it work...I hope 

you all believe in love just a little more today :) Have a happy Wednesday! xoxo {av} 

P.S. Looking to join in the Friday's Fancies fun this week? We're pulling together our fashion forward 

looks in honor of fashion week :) the link up starts at midnight on Friday!