It took me a month to think about my relationship and all the changes it went through in the year 2015. I started my LDR in November 2013 but it wasn’t until 2015  that it evolved into something I was really proud of. It took us over a year to gain a level of confidence in our relationship where we could feel like we were building something solid and lasting not only in our eyes but in the eyes of people around us.

When you are in a LDR you want your relationship to feel like a “normal relationship” even though you are dealing with distance, time difference, cultural differences, different beliefs, the opinion of family and friends and all the rest that the world wants to throw at you (I’ve dealt with all of it). The year 2015 was the year when we achieved a level or normalcy that made us open up about our feelings to people outside our circle of trust. I remember calling Ahmad my friend and hearing my mom in the background say “boyfriend! her boyfriend!”. Sounds funny but I became a master liar when it came to my relationship. It all changed last year. You can imagine me in the supermarket when my mom mentions casually “your bf…” (insert something LDR related) then someone that knows me would ask “where is he from?” I would freak out and out of nowhere my mom would reply “oh he is from Egypt!” and she would start talking about him. Took me all that time to be ready for the weird looks of other people at the mention of it. That cute picture I have of him at work? Don’t ask me how many of my clients/cases thinks that’s my adopted son (yeah he looks young enough and they are mostly old blind ladies).

It all felt better last year when we started sharing our relationship with more people. we started leaving each other cute messages on social media and even leaving comments with hearts and all for everyone to see. Of course with great changes comes great responsibility. It was the year when I got all the avalanche of questions, including the reasons why I had joined the LDRBN site and I decided it was time to step up to the plate and be proud of what we had built together.

I can truly say that 2015 was a great year for us and our relationship. It was the year he left for Army, marking the beginning of the last step in our journey to close the distance. I said before that it took me a whole month to do a review of 2015, it’s because after  all the changes when I compared it to my relationship now after he went to Army, I can’t help but to ask myself  who hit the pause button?

To read more about 2015 in a LDR and see the writing prompt that inspired this post, head to the LDRBN site. If you are in a LDR and want to be part of the experience, APPLY HERE. Don’t forget to mention my name  Gibran.

.