midwestern mates.

Hi friends! I have another round in the {distance makes the heart grow fonder} series for you today :) Aimee lives in Ohio and Todd lives in Missouri, but their relationship is no match for the 800 miles between them. This pair finds creative ways to make their time apart more bearable, which is half the battle in the distance game. Enjoy!

Name: Aimee

Significant Other's Name: Todd

When did you start dating?  January 2009

At what point did you begin dating long distance? Our whole relationship thus far has been long distance (almost 3 years!). He works with one of my college friends, so we met when I went to visit her. 

How do you fill your days while you're apart? We are both very busy with work and school, so luckily, we do not have much time to just sit around feeling sad. We text and email throughout the day and talk every night. We also often have pseudo-dates where we will go do the same thing in our own respective towns. For example, we often have “movie dates” where we rent the same movie and watch it at exactly the same time. During the movie, we text each other silly quotes or observations.

What do you find most difficult about being long distance?

There are a few things which make it especially difficult, like buying plane tickets on a grad student budget and wanting to hold off on fun things until we can make memories together. I also miss not getting to do the everyday things together. Since he is close with my group of friends from college, it is tough knowing they get to spend more time with him than me!

How has long distance changed your relationship? Our relationship definitely started on another level since we began with 12 hours between us. For one, we had a lot of serious conversations early on to ensure that starting up this long distance thing was worth it. We did not want to enter a complex and expensive LDR without hammering out the basics (e.g. relationship expectations, spirituality, me having to finish my 5-year graduate program, etc). We learned to become fabulous communicators—and basing a relationship on phone conversations also made us great listeners! Having limited time together ensures that we speak up quickly if anything is bothering us, rather than stewing or dwelling on things.

What do you enjoy most about the time you have together? In the beginning, we kind of felt that making the most out our relationship meant filling the time we did have together with couples’ activities (e.g. “We’ve never ridden go-carts together, we better do that!”). We now know that just being in each other’s company is a treat in itself and we should not feel pressured to fill it with anything. Knowing that each short visit is just a taste of our future together is the best part!

Is there any end in sight to your long distance days? Yes, thank God! Our forever together starts the moment I finish graduate school!

Their determination to survive these years apart is more than admirable! With their forever together on the horizon, Aimee and Todd are definitely on their way :) I hope you all have a great Wednesday--I'll see you back here tomorrow!