The Twelve Weeks That Were

This summer, Groom3000 and I are having a blast. We've been kayaking, picnicking, outlet shopping, wine festival-ing, porch swing swinging, ice cream-ing, movie-ing (ugh, Prince of Persia was sooooo not worth it), and of course our favorite, eating. On top of all that, we're packing for our late July move to Seattle! And soon, we'll be beaching! Pretty busy for a "lazy" summer of unemployment, eh?

We also attended a wedding--my first!

I can't help but pack our schedules with trips and activities. That's because this is our first summer together! We spent 12 weeks of last summer apart when Groom interned at a large tech company in Seattle and I worked at a weekly newspaper in Maryland. Although those weeks were tough on me emotionally, they were what truly solidified our relationship into something Groom3000 and I knew could last. 

We'd only been together seven months when Groom3K left for Seattle. We'd become inseparable in the months prior and I'd never been in a real long distance relationship. Honestly, I was nervous, but I trusted my Groom and I started counting down the weeks until I visited him "out West" in August. 

So, how did we do it? 

• Most importantly, we stayed busy. Groom3K and I both worked hard at our internships. I had my family, friends and on-campus RA job to take up my spare time, and Groom had his new roommate and techie friends. 
• We took advantage of technology. How did people stay in long distance relationships back in the day without video chat and e-mail??? Every morning, one of us would usually wake up with an e-mail from the other. Every evening after Groom got home from work, we would chat using video Gchat for 2-3 hours. EVERY day. What the hell did we talk about? I don't know, but for me, this was the key to staying strong. 
• I wrote old-fashioned love letters. I don't know what it is about blank note cards, but I love them! Every Sunday night for 12 weeks, I wrote Groom a card, sometimes silly and something mushy. Every Monday I popped it in the mail and like clockwork, he received it on Thursday after work. He still has them all :)
• We formed our own mini book club. Groom3000 and I both expressed interest in catching up on some reading over the summer, so I thought hey, if we read the same books, at least we'll have something to talk about. Groom and I read very different books (I'm more of a bestseller girl, while Groom is a big Stephen King fan.) He chose the first, then I the second, and so on. Although I'm a faster reader than my Groom (he used to hate to admit that), we always enjoyed the conversation that arose from our reading. 
• We had something to look forward to!  The first week in August, I flew out to Seattle to reunite with Groom3K. Before my trip, we talked about it constantly, and I researched and researched (as is my way) for restaurants and things to do.The escalator up to where Groom was supposed to meet me in the Seattle airport seemed to be the longest I'd ever ridden! Our reunion in the airport was like something from a movie. You know when the dramatic music starts, the man and woman run to each other, and everything around them goes blurry? Yea, it was like that.

Last summer seems like so long ago, but I'll always remember it as the summer I realized I wanted to spend my life with the man on my computer screen.  

**Coming soon: More on packing, and we have a cake tasting in a few weeks!**