From being an hour away to 23 hours away

[BigMatt93]

I would just like to introduce myself. My name is Matt and I'm 19. I came across this great site when I was googling "love quotes for people in long distance relationships." and decided to sign up and share my story. Things have been pretty hectic the past 2 years of my life. My family went from Florida to Nebraska, Nebraska to South Carolina, and from South Carolina back to Nebraska. I'll try to cut down on some of the details here... While I was in South Carolina, I hated it... I missed Nebraska, work sucked, life sucked. I had done a google search for dating sites while I was there. I have tried numerous dating sites to no avail. I found an "adult" dating site that I decided I would try. I don't want to give out the details, But I joined in hopes of meeting somebody more mature. A few weeks had passed and I was living back down in Florida temporarily before my family made our final move back to Nebraska. I was checking my mail one day and I had gotten an email from this woman stating she was only about 40 minutes to an hour away from where I use to live in Carolina. I wrote back and told her I no longer officially lived there but would be back a few times before I moved officially. I asked her if she would be interested in meeting up. She wrote back yes and gave me her phone number. Over the course of the next several months, We began texting all day, every single day. A short period of time later we began with phone conversations. We quickly fell in love and would spend a good 6-7+ hours on the phone every night. Things were getting serious and we were at the "I love you" stage. Well I found out I'd be back in Carolina 2 times before I officially moved. So we scheduled to meet up the next time I was there. A couple more weeks past and I texted her just as soon as I found out that I'd be making 1 of 2 of my final trips back up to South Carolina. She wrote back how excited she was to finally be meeting. Well the days up until I made my trip up there passed, very slowly, but they passed. I got myself ready and took a deep breath. It was finally for me to go meet this woman I had fallen in love with over the phone and texts over the past many months. I went and picked her up at the agreed mutual destination/easiest place for each of us to find. When i first laid my eyes on her, I swear my jaw was going to hit the floor and my heart was going to pop out of my chest. She was absolutely STUNNING. We went and sat down to ice cream. She was pretty quiet so I had to do a lot of the talking. We talked about this and that, how excited we were to finally be meeting face to face, and the works. It was getting late and I needed to take her back to her car so she could get home. I brought her to her car and we stood there and gave each other a long hug and a long kiss and I told her I'd see her again in a few weeks when I was back up before I left for Nebraska. Of course the next few nights we spent on the phone together talking about our visit and how excited and happy we were to finally meet.

I left to go back down to Florida before we made our last trip to South Carolina before we came back to Nebraska. After our first night together I sent her a text the next morning saying "I'll jump into this adventure with both of my feet if your willing to do the same" (Meaning a LDR.), She wrote back that she wanted to give it a shot. We spent the next several weeks on the phone for 7+ hours until I came back for the last time. When I was up there and settled for the evening, I got myself together in my best clothes and went to go meet her. I showed her around town a bit. We ultimately ended up at the park and just sat there and talked. because everything else was closed. A few moments later I put on some soft music and we spent the next half hour slow dancing in each others arms together. The night came to an end and we said our goodbyes and gave our hugs and kisses, had our emotions run wild, and I told her that I'd be back to see her soon. Anyway to make this very long story short, Here we are almost a year later... We text all day everyday, We talk on the phone twice a day, We send each other pictures of ourselves both general and silly, and we send each other love quotes to remind each other that we're always on each others minds. I can say that I never have been in such a strong relationship before and yes we have our moments where we feel the distance and get sad and cry on the phone together, But I feel like this is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and I think she feels the same way. I have been giving it a lot of thought lately and I think once I get through school, I very well may ask her to marry me and as much as I HATED South Carolina, I might move back just for her.

[katiecat08]

That's sweet. You guys almost sound like my SO and I except we've lived where we are forever. But we are exactly 1500 miles away and if you drive it'll take 24 hours without stopping. My SO and I couldn't handle the goodbyes so we're closing our distance as soon as we can. Its just too painful to bear without each other. We fell in love quickly too but we became friends before that. I hope you guys get to be together again and I wish you luck if you marry one day!

[LizBrown08]

Aww, that is a very sweet story. Sounds like you two are very much in love and have maintained a strong relationship through it all. Good luck to you and yours. Hopefully you can close the distance soon. I used to live in SC, it has its crappy parts, but you can make any place a home as long as you are with someone you truly love. I wish the best for you two!!

[BigMatt93]

Katiecat - Our goodbyes were definitely the hardest part. She insisted on driving and seeing me 2 nights in a row during my final days up there. I told her not to waste the gas and that as much as I would of loved to of seen her again. An hour's drive both way was a bit to much for 9-10pm at night when she had to be up and out of the house for work at 5 the following morning. We ended up only getting to see each other once on my final days up there and I think we both agreed that as much as it sucked, It was probably for the best because we both agreed that we would of gotten really emotional. We had just done the whole emotional goodbye the night before and I'll admit, I started with the waterworks before she did, and then once I started... She ended up starting. I'm hoping with the new job I should be starting in the next few weeks I will make enough to go out and visit her a few times either before my college course starts, during it's break, or immediately after I finish up a few months down the road. I'm hoping that once I get through college and I can get some money saved up from working that I can make my dreams/plans more of a reality and look into closing the gap and moving back to South Carolina to be with her and if we see that it's right for both of us, Look into proposing to her.

LizBrown08 - Thank you! We are indeed in love. It's definitely had it's downsides but if anything all of the moving around I've done since meeting her and the distance that is now between us has only seemed to bring us closer. It's not exactly an ideal situation, But we make the best of it and look towards the near future when I'm able to be back with her. I'm sure up until that point I'll try my best to pull a rabbit out of my hat and make our visits as special as they can be whenever our schedules allow for us to plan them.

[princessmaria]

This was very nice to read! It was almost like I could feel the love you two have for eachother through the page. I'm sure everything will work out between you two as you seem to have a strong relationship!

[Chlo]

Such a sweet story, thanks for sharing with us all!
I wish the best for both of you, and want to also welcome you to the forums.

[srtd35]

Very sweet story...sounds like you have a strong relationship. I live in SC too and my SO is planning on moving here. He came to visit and he liked it but said he could honestly be happy anywhere I am so I have a feeling that you will be the same.

[BigMatt93]

LizBrown - If you don't mind me asking... What part of South Carolina did you use to live in? I was in Florence.

PrincessMaria - Thank you so much for the kind words!! I'm extremely optimistic, which is something I've never really been much of before in my life. I feel like as long as I stay on track and push through school and I start setting aside a little bit of each pay check, I feel like I'll be taking a trip to see her much sooner than I even expect myself to.

Chlo - Thank you for the good luck wishes and for the warm welcome to the forums!

SrtD35 - If you don't mind me asking, and I apologize if there is anything against this in the rules... If there was I'll refrain from asking the more specific location question in my future posts... But just out of curiosity where in particular were you in South Carolina? I was located in Florence. It wasn't so much that I hated South Carolina... I was just brought there under some very sour make believe fairy tale promises.. My family and I were promised the world with opportunity to do something bigger than ourselves with a family member in his new company, and it turned out it was all lies and deception. So living under those circumstances and the fact that my own uncle mistreated and let his employee's mistreat his nephew the way they did, I got real tired of it all, real fast to the point where as much as I loved my job by itself, I absolutely hated going to work because of the crappy circumstances and horrible treatment that I was being put through. Like I said in a previous post, At least I believe I did... I SWORE UP AND DOWN that I would NEVER and I mean NEVER step foot in South Carolina again once I left it, but once I met Carrie all of that went out the window because I knew that as long as I had her, I'd be happy in South Carolina. If I wasn't or I still wasn't crazy about it, I'd find a way to stay happy. Which I think just the simple fact that I would be around her more, Would make it all worth it. I guess Nebraska isn't forever, As much as I love it here... I really moved back here so I could finish the life I had to put on hold. I wouldn't of been able to go to college in South Carolina for the EMT program like I'm doing here simply because South Carolina seemed to have absolutely absurd prerequisits before they even considered letting you in the door and Nebraska is a lot more lenient and easy going as far as things like that.

[ushiwakafox]

That's so sweet, I love it! Such a nice story, thank you for sharing! Also, welcome to LFAD

[BigMatt93]

Ushiwakafox - Thank you for the warm welcome!

[LizBrown08]

I used to live in Columbia. It was about two hours from Florence. Sometimes life takes us in different directions than we intended even if that means going back to a place we promised we would never leave. I've tried leaving NC for the past 3 years and under circumstances have had to keep coming back. It's tough!! Is there any way she would move out of SC or is she pretty set on staying there? We meet people that change our lives, and with change comes different plans and sometimes you just have to let go of your negative feelings towards a place and allow yourself to be free and happy again. Forget the bad experiances, and just make the best of it as you can Good luck!!

[BigMatt93]

LizBrown - I know it's not exactly the same. She talks about coming and visiting a ton. More so over the past few days just because my stress levels have been high and I think she senses it and she knows when I think about our upcoming visits I chill out almost instantly. I honestly can't give you an accurate answer on that. She lives at home with her mom and dad, Don't quote me on this but I remember her saying something back when we first met about her dad having the beginning/middle stages of Dementia or possibly Alzheimers or some other kind of illness. I could be wrong, But I do remember her mentioning something like that. I don't really think she's tied down at home though as far as helping him. I mean she's got her mom to help out with her dad and her sister lives right next door. She works as a daycare teacher and her schedule is always changing sometimes she works from 5am to 2pm, other days she was working 7am to 3pm, and now she's back to her regular schedule which is 9am to 6:30pm. I would assume that her sister and her mom help her dad out when she isn't present. I don't think he needs constant supervision but I do think that's the whole reason that she lives at home is to give her mom and sister a helping hand. I wouldn't say that she's dead set on staying in South Carolina, She talks about moving to Nebraska all the time and jokes about how she's ready for me to come kidknap her and bring her back to Nebraska to live with me. Other times it's the opposite way around and she tells me I'm the one who needs to move back to South Carolina since I was the one who moved away. All the joking we do about whose moving closer to who aside, I honestly think that at this point... She'd be just as open to moving here as I am beginning to be about moving back to her. I think it's something that definitely needs to be talked about a little bit more in depth and seriously though. The only other issue I can foresee and it's not really a huge issue at all considering I'm a born and raised Floridian.... Is I'm taking a good ol' country girl who see's just a tiny bit of snow each year if she's lucky considering she lives on the outskirts of Myrtle Beach, and bringing her to a place where there is snow on the ground a good portion of the year along with temperatures in the teen's, single digits, and negatives.

[LizBrown08]

Well moving is a HUGE step, and regardless of who does it, it's a risk and it's scary. You two have already seemed to have made it through alot and I'm sure you will continue to grow as time goes. If she's having family things like that going on, I could understand why she'd want to stay there. That's hard to leave a situation like that, especially when you see a loved one deteriate like that. That's a very sad diease to watch someone go through. But, I would continue talking to her about things, seeing where she stands and you are right having more serious conversations about it. If she feels like she needs to stay in SC to be with your family, it sounds like you would be supportive of that. Nebraska is a whole different world compared to SC, so you would definitely have to prepare yourself to be a strong supporter if she were to move that. Good luck though, I'm sure you will figure things out and it will be fine. Life is funny like that, sometimes things just fall into place

[BigMatt93]

Yes I'm sure it would be a huge step and a huge adjustment for her to try to settle into a new place like Nebraska considering the much harsher winters that we go through here. I'll also admit that southern hospitality is almost none existent here. You meet some nice people, But a lot of people seem to walk around with what I would call an undeserved sense of entitlement to everything. Usually more so with the younger generations than the older generations but I notice that the older generation here has that same stuck up snootiness at times too. Honestly if she told me she needed to stay in South Carolina to help her mom and sister out as far as helping with the care of her dad and everything else, I would be 100% supportive. Family goes above and beyond all else as far as priorities and I would expect her to feel the same way as I do about her situation if it were me in that position with my mom or dad. I'm taking one of the major steps in being able to secure a more stable future for her and I together and starting school in a few weeks. I've already had the discussion with her that as soon as I was able to make it through school, certify, start working, and stashing away some cash that I would definitely be making a trip out to see her and I feel like that my school I guess you could say is the start of all the things to come for her and I. I feel like once I graduate and start working, Things will be able to be a little more easily planned and I won't have to worry about "Ohh well If I go visit her this weekend, I might not get back in time to take this exam and I'll have to make it up." granted when i go to visit her after I finish the program, I'd actually be missing a few days of work and not school, But I feel like that if I miss one day of school, I have the possibility of missing some key information or a key piece of my training that I'm really going to need in the field and I wont know how or what to do and I'll spend the rest of the semester trying to learn and grasp onto whatever I missed and potentially fall behind and then that could possibly lead to me falling behind in my second semester.

[BigMatt93]

Okay guys. Just figured I'd give this thread a little bit of an update. I got a phone call from my SO this morning like I do every Saturday and Sunday and we talked for about 3 hours. We talked about if either of us had any dreams, what we had planned for the day, and how our weekend was. She decided to make herself some breakfast so I stayed on the phone with her while she cooked herself breakfast and then ate. After she was done eating she did a few things around the house and then I told her I was going to go shower. I went to go shower and texted her when I was done. She had just happened to be getting out of the bathtub shortly after I got done showering, So I took her a couple pictures of myself all snuggled back on my bed like I do everyday and emailed them to her and wrote her a small little love note in the email just like I always do. Anyway... Getting to my point here. For anybody whose read my very first post in this topic, You probably noticed at the end of the topic I mentioned about asking her to marry me once I got things figured out and on track with my life as far as college and work. When we were talking, I can't remember if it was last night, or early this morning. I'm pretty positive it was last night. Anyway I knew what I wanted out of our relationship back when I first started to fall really hard for her, and that was to hopefully spend the rest of my life with her. She knows how much I love her and I know how much she loves me. So casually last night I asked her where exactly she seen our relationship going and what she was hoping for between us. I felt kind of awkward asking for some reason, I don't quite know why but I did... Anyway after I asked her she confirmed everything I already knew. She began to tell me that she loves me with all of her heart. I told her that I loved her with all of my heart too and then I proceeded to ask her about me moving back. I asked her if that was something she really wanted to happen, She didn't hesitate and almost immediately answered me back with "Are you kidding me baby? I want you in my life for the rest of my/our lives and I want you back here with me more than anything!" We kind of steered away from that conversation and were just talking about this and that, and sitting there laughing with each other over different things. She had a few things to do around the house, So I let her go. After awhile I got a text from her saying she was all done with what she needed to do and that I could call her back and we could talk some more. I called her back and again we carried on our conversation about whatever we were talking about at that particular time. At one point she got a little quiet so I asked her what was up, To which she replied: "I'm just thinking baby..." and to that I replied "About what, baby?" She got quiet and didn't answer me for a minute, So I asked her again what was up figuring maybe something was wrong or something was bothering her. She asked me if I had my phone on speaker, I told her yes and that it was easier for me to hear her if my phone was on speaker... I don't know why but I have a really hard time hearing over the phone even if the volume is on max and I have full service, my phone seems to cut out and I can only pick up every other word of what she's saying at times. She told me that she would talk to me about it later. At this point I was getting really concerned and figured something really was wrong because she wouldn't tell me what it was. I tried not to pester her about it but dropped simple little hints about how she would feel a lot better if she just talked to me about what was on her mind, Just like she always tells me when I've got something consuming my thoughts or bothering me. I changed the conversation for a little bit and we got on the topic of our friends. I told her that I really have a hard time making new friends and that I wasn't the social butterfly out in public that I was when I was with her or talking to her on the phone. I told her that I had a small group of friends that I went to school with, but eventually we all had a falling out and that I really only had a very select few people back in Florida that I considered "friends" and that I really didn't get to keep in contact with them to much either simply because I've been so busy and they've all got their own things going on. I also told her that I didn't know to many people in Florence either considering I only really talked to people in my immediate work "clique" that I always worked with and that the only other people I hung out with in Florence were all the people I had gotten to know when I would go shoot pool 3-4 times a week during the evening and my family. We got on the topic of school and if I did all the social activities in school. I told her that I really only attended the football games because I enjoyed them and that I really wasn't around long enough to attend any major events like prom, homecoming, or any of the dances because I was homeschooled from 6th grade until I graduated homeschool a few years ago and she was honestly shocked. I explained that it sucked, but I was a bit of a social outcast anyway, So it didn't really bother me. This is where the story gets interesting and honestly? I expected what she said to come out of my mouth before it came out of her mouth. She took a deep breath and FINALLY told me what was on her mind. She began talking and said "Baby, I was just really curious.. I told you I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and that when you got settled, graduated school, and saved up some money. I wanted to know who was going to be attending our wedding." I sat there in complete disbelief, and I mean that in a good way. I mean the night before I had asked her about what her hopes were for our relationship but other than that, I never really said anything to her about my future plans to pop the question. I figured I would know when the time was right and that when that moment came I was going to take advantage of the opportunity and go for it. Maybe she put 2 and 2 together and figured out what I was hinting at last night with the whole "where do you see our relationship going and what are your hopes?"

All I know is I definitely wasn't expecting her to say that. Not because I didn't think she felt the same way, But because it was something that I had just started thinking about not to long ago and I wasn't sure when the right time to ask her would be and as much as we love each other, I wasn't sure if she was looking to get married, and if she was, was she looking for it to happen within a couple years of us meeting like I was planning on doing when I got settled in my life as far as getting through school and starting my adventure with a new career and venturing out on my own.