V,
I’ve been in a relationship for about a year now. We met when we were juniors and hit it off right away. The problem is, we have very different plans for when we graduate in May. I want to go to law school in Chicago and he wants to move to Seattle for a job. I’m scared we won’t be able to make it work, and I don’t know if I should even try having a long distance relationship with him. I love him a lot and we’re great together, but I just don’t know. What do I do?
Going the distance
Dear Drew Barrymore,
This is the classic tale of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, and then boy and girl have very different life plans. It happens. For four years we’re in this little bubble of fraternity parties, late-night library stints and bar crawls, and we think that’s what real life is about … until we graduate and realize that our day-to-day schedules are concrete, and skipping class “just because” isn’t an option.
On the one hand, it’s good that the two of you have lofty life goals. At the very least, you know you won’t end up living under a bridge somewhere, so that’s good.
If you’re asking me, I say that long distance relationships seldom work out. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying to work out. At the risk of sounding like a self-help book, I’m gonna say this: If the relationship is good, then try and make it work. It’s going to be tough and you’re going to have to work through difficult things, but just stick through it. Granted, you’ll have to endure some awkward phone sex conversations and figure out if naked Skyping is really your thing.
At the end of the day, Justin Long will always be there to get you surprise tickets to your favorite indie band.
V