Guest Post: the perks of being long distance

Happy Monday and happy observation of Veteran's Day! If you had the day off, I hope you enjoyed the extra time. If, like my husband, you had to work today, I hope it was quick and painless! And of course, a special thanks to those who served or are serving our country.

I'm thrilled to say that I was home today, though I did spend a majority of my time grading, working, and studying. Poor me, right?

Speaking of work, this week is a short one but it'll be hectic. So just like last week's awesome guest post from Alex, I have another wonderful guest post today from Molly. I know you'll love it!

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hey there, BLWB readers! i’m molly and i blog over at heart, sole & cereal. when julie asked me to write a guest post i was simultaneously super excited and super nervous. i’ve been reading julie’s blog for months now and i absolutely love her writing (duh, she’s an english teacher), so i really don’t want to disappoint all of you, her lovely readers! that being said, julie is the absolute sweetest and basically told me i could write about whatever i wanted to write about and i figured i’d take the opportunity to write something a little different than my usual “what I ate/how I worked out” post…bare my soul a little rather than just my “sole” if you will. okay, that was lame, it won’t happen again. and i hope julie doesn't mind my inability to capitalize too much ;)

(this is me, picking up my bib for the chicago marathon)

if you have read my blog - first of all, thank you, and second of all, you know that i’m currently in a long distance relationship with a lovely gentleman who goes by the nickname of tex. it’s not a particularly creative nickname given that he hails from texas, but it’s what my little brother decided to call him to get on his nerves and now he’s stuck with it. he’s currently living in houston and i’m living in washington, DC (roughly fourteen hundred miles apart if anyone is keeping score at home). over the past year while we’ve been living apart, i’ve spent a lot of time focused on how much long distance sucks. and boy…does it. i miss my best friend all the time, i don’t get to go out on dates very often, i spend a TON of money on plane tickets, etc. etc. the list could go on forever. but instead of focusing on the negative, i decided i’d try to think about the positives. it turns out there are actually kind of a lot, so without further ado…the top 5 perks of a long distance relationship! 

(awww what a cute mug!)

1. watching the food network for 19 hours in a row. tex and i have pretty similar taste in entertainment. i genuinely love watching football and golf with him and try to pull the two of us away from a 90s disaster movie marathon and you’re taking your life in your hands. more often than not though, on a long and lazy saturday i am totally content to watch hour after hour of diners, drive ins and dives. tex (for some reason) cannot get behind this and gets annoyed and bored before one episode is over. because he’s a gem he’ll say “oh no we can keep watching” but because i’m the best girlfriend ever, i know he doesn’t mean it and so we usually flip back to whatever sports are on because we can both enjoy that. clearly we’re going to be a two tv household…you know, once we’re a one household household, but until then - it's me an guy fieri all the way!

(i'm very familiar with airport snacks since i spend the majority of my life there)

2. going days without shaving my legs. this might be TMI but it is what it is, and ladies i’ve got to admit – i hate shaving my legs. i’m lazy about it in the winter and because i see tex only about once a month…well, you do the math. the only thing that forces me to shave is my own shame…which I have very little of. this also goes for wearing makeup and wearing something besides sweatpants 100% of the time i’m not in public. i’m not saying tex doesn’t like me makeup free or in sweatpants, because he swears he does, but it’s freeing to not even have to think about whether or not he’s noticing the big zit on my forehead first thing in the morning when i roll out of bed. 

3. having two groups of friends and two sets of traditions! it’s super fun to spend time in houston and get to know tex’s friends and have him here getting to know my friends. i feel like i have my own little life there even if it’s only once in a while. we get to have two favorite restaurants to go to, we get to hang out with two totally different groups of people, and we get to have all these favorite things in two places. 

4. not taking each other for granted – because we see each other so rarely, i have the unique opportunity to recognize how much of a blessing it is to do the little things like go grocery shopping with your boo or hit up a froyo shop for a little date night spontaneously. i cannot wait to start doing these things all the time together. i know that life won’t be perfect all the time when we’re together, but we’ve promised each other that we’re not going to take the little stuff for granted because we know what it’s like to not have that little stuff.

(long distance means you get lots of dates to weddings instead of just one!)

5. finally, and most importantly, finding value in ME – i love tex, and i love having him in my life, but there is something so valuable about having time to myself on an extremely regular basis. i have been going through some big changes over the past year or so of my life and though i wish he were around to help me make decisions a lot of the time, i feel lucky to know that whatever i choose and whatever i decide, i am the one who made that choice and i made it in the best way i know how for me. as we start to make life choices together, i'm struggling a bit with it because i'm so used to looking out for numero uno, but i know that there's a lot of value in finding compromise while still maintaining a sense of self. i feel much stronger as a woman because of the chance i've had to be on my own, and i know i’ll be a better partner for tex in the future because i’ve cultivated my ability to be independent. 

(he does make a pretty good wedding date though)

there are lots of other reasons long distance isn't so bad, both big and small, and i’m glad i took a few minutes to think about them. it’s so easy for me to get caught up in how tough it is on a daily basis that i forget sometimes that every challenge is a learning opportunity and i’m getting a LOT of opportunities to learn.

anyone else out there doing the long distance thing? what are some of your favorite parts? what do you hate the most?

thanks again julie for letting me take over your blog for a bit! i was debating putting in some photos of cats because i know your readers will miss those, but frankly...i don't like cats. i'll leave the cat pics up to you ;) 

<3

[From Julie: I have a feeling that actually some readers will be thankful for the break from my crazy cat photos. But they'll be back tomorrow!]