Picture by Kristen Gitchel
When I started dating my now fiance, Drew, I never even thought about the future. For the time being, I was a freshman in college and was just starting adult life while getting used to being on my own. I had a plan and all, but I didn’t know where my dream would take me. Studying to be a teacher, I knew I needed a Bachelor’s Degree, but wasn’t sure where I would go to get it. As time dwindled down, I knew what I had to do.
A little backstory, Drew and I met my junior year of high school through a mutual friend. He was 19 at the time, got medically discharged from the army, and was a college student. We dated for a few months, went to prom, and fizzled out, due in part to me being a stupid high school student. We rekindled after about a year and a half, and it was almost like we never fell out of rhythm.
Picture by Megan Lord
Before I moved to Laramie, Drew and I had never been in a long distance situation. The farthest we had been apart was while I was in Tennessee, but this lasted for only nine days. We’re best friends, who do almost everything together. We are each other’s support systems and we rarely have major blowout fights. Last summer, a few days before I permanently moved to Laramie to start at the University, he planned a going-away-party for me. What I did not know is that it was secretly an engagement party, because he pulled out a ring and got down on one knee. It made the upcoming move all the more difficult.
Picture by Megan Lord
The reason why he couldn’t come with me is because he was still in the process of finishing school as well. While I’m finishing my last two years at the University of Wyoming, he is finishing his last year at Western Wyoming Community College with two associate degrees and a certificate (YAY Drew!). He can’t even move here with me for my last year because he will be working for a Trona Mining company, and that does not exist here in Laramie.
I believe it is more difficult to be engaged and long distance, due to the fact that it is more serious than just being in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. You two are planning a wedding together and have promised to be committed to only one another for the rest of your lives. In a regular dating relationship, you don’t have that commitment and promise, so it is definitely easier to break it off. Plus, if you met and established a strong relationship before moving away, it is way harder to spend that time apart.
It sucks right now because we’re both college students with homework and deadlines we have to meet, so it is in no way possible to see each other every weekend. I also think I have more incentive than him to visit because my parents also live in the same home town. We FaceTime a lot too, but sometimes all you need is touch.
Luckily, we have planned our wedding to take place next fall after I graduate from the University of Wyoming, so the planning process while we’re apart is not too bad. Also, I may be able to student teach in the county that Rock Springs is located, which means I could move home a semester early, wedding plan, and also actually buy a place to live together. We haven’t done that yet because we don’t live in the same town, little obvious.
Picture by Kristen Gitchel
Here’s hoping I do my spring student teaching back home in Sweetwater county, because I am tired of being away.