Hello and Happy Wednesday!
Le husband and I dated for one year and a half before we got married. We moved in together after three months! Crazy? Not at all. We spent most of the time together anyway, either at his or at my place and we knew it is right; it felt right, so we just did it. We saw each other every day. Cooked for each other, spent quality time together on our days off. When we met we both worked full-time at the United Nations and I was about to finish a Bachelor degree and attended school in the afternoon/evening full-time. I am not sugar-coating anything here. It was a tough time. During the week I usually came home at 9.30 pm and was exhausted. He waited for me with a cup of tea, a glass of wine (or two) and something small to eat which made it all okay again.
Then our son was born and things changed. Le husband went on a mission with the United Nations to Africa and I moved temporarily to Germany with our son. From spending time together every single day to dealing with a long-distance relationship was hard in the beginning. I had my family around for support with petit Joel but the man I love was 8000 km away. We see each other usually every four-six weeks for one week. There were days when it was really tough, the internet did not work, the time differences and so much more. We used emails, Facebook messenger, FaceTime or Skype but it is just not the same than talking to someone face to face. Especially, if something awesome happened. The first steps our son took or the first word(s) he spoke [and amazingly, Papa was among the first five words!] Le husband saw all these things just as videos I made for him. I started this habit to record a little one-minute video every morning after we woke up for over one year. Looking back at all those it is amazing to see how fast our son changed. Imagine, these gadgets would not exist? Technology is pretty awesome! Can someone figure out how to teleport humans through the phone?
Distance can be a beast sometimes. Especially being that far apart and when I sometimes hear nothing from him for a couple of hours. Horrible, considering the work he does! Even a little note would make me more comfortable but thankfully this does not happen that often. Almost never!
But guess what? We found our little groove even with a bunch of countries between us. We found out when the best times to chat online are. When it is best to reach him in the desert. Where to stand to have the best connection. We realized that we became better writers. We wrote long emails to each other. Hearing that all-familiar bling when an email from him arrived made me so happy. Making plans for our future helped us a lot, too. Realizing that he will be back home soon helped. When we do see each other we appreciate the time together more than anything else — and of course seeing each other again after a month+ feels always like a first date again. Before he arrives, I am all antsy, check my hair,nervousness and dress up a little. We enjoy being together more since his mission assignment. Distance makes the heart grow fonder!
These days le husband is here with us in Germany and it is great. We cook, take long walks, go running together, read, go to the movies occasionally [Thanks, Mom] or just sit outside watching the stars while talking forever, contemplating life. Then we laugh so hard that we have tears in our eyes. Life is good the way it is. We appreciate this time together and how our life turned out. Everything is manageable and actually not that bad. Even when I lived with our son alone in Connecticut it was all good. We figured things out, and made others work out better. I changed in a good way; became even more independent and proud of myself dealing with tougher situations alone. And little things that used to slightly annoy me, don’t bother me anymore in the slightest. However, it is always better for us to be together, obviously. The three of us! And still feeling those butterflies in our stomachs after all this time. Looking at the stars tonight, I remember why I am here and whistle a Chim Chim Cher-ee while holding my husband’s hand.
