Separate States
Four years ago, I was traveling back home to Mississippi from a conference in New York City. I found myself seated next to an attractive man. I noticed he was reading a book by James Patterson, one of my favorite writers. I got the nerve to ask him about the book and from there our conversation took off. I was excited because here was an attractive man with whom I had much in common. Best of all, he seemed interested in me also.
My plane landed and I waited for him to suggest that we continue to see each other. He suggested a dinner date. Over dinner, he revealed that he was in town on business, and that he resided in New Jersey. My heart plummeted. Here was the ideal man for me and he lived 900 miles away. We exchanged email addresses and vowed to keep in touch.
By the time I arrived home, I had an email waiting in my inbox. We corresponded daily for over two months. He then sent me an email suggesting we exchange phone numbers. We did and began not only emailing from our respective work places daily, but also began having long conversations via the phone.
Time passed and we eventually confessed our love for one another. Packing and moving wasn't an option for either of us. We couldn't just uproot our children and move them to a strange area of the country. Additionally, we both had jobs we enjoyed, and we were both active members of our churches.
We took a risk and decided ours would be one of the dreaded long distance relationships. Periodically one of us would make the flight to the other and we would spend three to four days together. Each visit just reaffirmed our love for each other. We stayed in constant contact via text messaging, phone calls, and emails. Both of us thought that leaving the other would get easier the more we visited. Instead, leaving got harder and it seemed all we were doing once we arrived home was counting the days until we could be together again.
After three long years of waiting for our children to graduate high school, fate stepped in for us. Both of us were laid off of our jobs. The down-spiralling economy, so many people's enemy, actually turned out to be our friend. It forced us to find new jobs and we did. Both of us found jobs in another state and made plans to move together.
That was over a year ago. Today, we are married and happy. Both of us feel as if love gave us a second chance. We both know that had we not taken a chance in a long distance relationship and weathered all the storms that being apart brought, we would never have the happiness we do today.
| Tweet |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
