While the majority of the year my boyfriend and I are perfectly happily dating, during the summer we are forced to do long distance. I am from the Chicago area and he is from the La Crosse area. On a good day, the distance between are houses is around three and a half hours. Not gonna lie, long distance sucks. Luckily, we only have to date long distance for three months out of the year though. A lot of the content discussed in class applies to my past experience.

In class we discussed the number one struggle of long distance relationships to be the “loss of day-to-day intimacy”. I can definitely relate to this struggle. During the summer, I miss flipping through television channels together, going on relaxing drives at night, and playing a game of pocket change poker when I’m bored. Of course there is always loneliness of wanting intimacy. I remember last summer going to bed every night and just craving him to be cuddle next to him. Nothing can replace that feeling of comfort.

Another topic we discussed in class was the stranger effect. This describes my relationship perfectly. After this past winter break, I drove to my boyfriend’s parent’s house. I remember being so excited to see him. When he opened the door, he gave me a kiss and a hug. I honestly did not know what to say after that. We went up stairs to his kitchen and got out all the common questions of “how was your break”, and “what did you do”, out of the way. After about a half hour of that, it finally felt normal and less scripted. As weird as the “stranger effect” is, I actually kind of like it. Obviously not the awkward part, but the butterfly feeling of FINALLY being back together.