Want to share your long distance relationship story? We'd like to hear it!
<< Back to stories
Across the Pacific Ocean
By Wesley 2/14/2009I'm writing this on Valentines day 2009.
I am from Sydney, Australia and my lovely lady, Laura, is from Wichita, Kansas.
We met on the evening of January 11, 2007 when I was in Wichita visiting an old friend whom I had not seen for 6 years.
My friend and I were out having drinks at Indigo in Old-Town when I was introduced to a strikingly attractive girl with with flowing blonde-tipped well-kept hair, a gorgeous smile, and a healthy petite figure. Very shy at first but soon the conversation was flowing. I love a smart girl who likes to chat!
To say we hit it off is an understatement! We both had a strong interest for each other from the very start.
Fate took its course. A few days after we met, a severe ice storm hit Kansas, closing all the roads and leaving me stuck in Wichita. (I was due to travel by Greyhound to Dallas, Texas to visit another friend). Needless to say I was not fussed by the fact I was going to be staying in Wichita longer than planned.
Laura and I spent the next 10 days getting to know each other, meeting up for drinks, making each other laugh a lot, and watching movies together.
The time eventually arrived for me to continue on with my travel plans. Laura gave me her spare cell phone on her 2nd line so that we could talk for free as much as we wanted whilst I was in the USA. Daily conversations longer than an hour were commonplace.
When I was in Dallas, my buddies and I went to get tattoos. 5 minutes before it was my turn in the chair, Laura called and asked me out. (This is an Australian way of saying, 'Will you be my bf / gf?')
I expressed that nothing would make me happier than to have her as my girlfriend, but it would start out as a long distance relationship. I asked if she was ok with this, and that I would understand if she wasn't. She replied with "I just want you to be MINE."
It was music to my ears. The tattoo on my back is of a gecko. Although it is completely unrelated, we both see this tattoo as being somewhat representative of the start of our journey.
Four months of calls, texts, and emails later, Laura traveled all the way to Sydney to visit me. Nobody had ever done something of that magnitude for me. I was totally enamored with her. I gave her the grand tour of Sydney, showed her koalas and kangaroos, took her to my favourite Mexican restaurant in Manly, had a big BBQ with all my friends to welcome her, and took her on a ferry ride on Sydney Harbour. It was two of the best weeks of my life. Then the dreaded goodbye at Sydney airport. It was very emotional as we had both fallen in love with each other.
We spent the next 11 months apart. That's right, ELEVEN months. Yes, it can be done. It takes everything that this website suggests, ESPECIALLY trust, honesty, and communication. I made the decision to go over to see her for a good lengthy amount of time. This involved storing all my belongings and leaving my career in Sydney as a freelance cameraman in the TV industry. It took a long time to eliminate debts and save up enough cash to live on for up to 6 months. I can attribute some of the success of this length of time apart to setting a solid goal. I told myself that I wanted to be over in the USA with Laura no later than March 2008.
I constantly kept Laura up to date with my progress financially, and with visas etc. We texted each other daily and spoke on the phone at LEAST once every 48hrs. Communication, folks, is paramount!
I fell short of the end-of-March '08 goal by 7 days. On April 7, 2008, I arrived in Wichita to a huge hug and lengthy embrace from Laura. I had been waiting for that moment for so long that I was shaking mid-hug. She noticed and mentioned the fact.
That length of time not seeing each other was very difficult and put a tremendous amount of pressure on our relationship. A lot of the original 'flutter' we initially felt was not as strong but as time progressed together, our love for each other returned and we developed a healthy relationship. We were overjoyed to be finally together again. I met all her friends and family and they all say we are a great match. Winning over the approval of her mom and dad was very nerve racking, and it showed. I was gently reprimanded by Laura for looking down at the floor during initial conversations with her parents. This was how I handled nervousness. But all was well and a solid friendship blossomed between myself and Laura's father and brother.
During my stay there, we had fun in Vegas, California, and Chicago. We also had a big weekend on Lake Texoma with some crazy friends of mine who kept Laura and I entertained constantly.
We made many new friends together and became popular locals at the nearby 'hole-in-the-wall' bar known as 'Timeout Club'.
We celebrated 4th of July with Laura's parents by the pool, dressed up together for Halloween, attended a big Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Laura's very hospitable cousins, and even did an early Christmas dinner together just before I had to leave the USA.
My time there had to come to an end as the visitor visa I was on had expired despite my application to have it extended. Again, as fate has it, a job opportunity arose in Australia with an old long-lost friend of the family. Best of all, the job was in my industry. This came up not 10 days before I was due to depart Kansas. This would be the perfect opportunity to start saving for our future.
After many long conversations, Laura and I made plans for the next stage of our relationship. Even though we face another period of time apart, we both love and trust each other immensely and cannot wait to 'do life' together. We constantly tell each other via all means, the 'three words.' Express it to your partner all the time. It never gets old, especially in a LDR scenario. And TRUST them. Because without the BIG THREE - Trust, Honesty, Communication, you're in for a hard time.
Saying goodbye again was harder than before. Holding back tears was impossible. But we both knew that we had a huge future planned together. We vowed never to do 11 months apart ever again, and plan to be together finally in late May of 2009, provided all goes well with the things that need to be done. Fingers crossed!
Wesley
<< Back to stories
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
