Long distance love

“Love knows no bounds” is what we say when we have found the one and we know we want to live with them for the rest of our lives. Time feels like hours. There are misunderstandings which come in the way and sometimes insecurities too, but we have to ask ourselves if we are really taking the existence of the other person forgranted and perhaps not realising how things would have been more difficult if their existence, where we could hold their hand or see each other face to face wouldn't be possible? Seems familiar? Yes, we are talking about long distance relationships. 

Often we hear about how people have the idea of long distance relationships not working and that relationships nowadays can't even work out for a year being two miles apart from one another rather than thousands- but not all relationships are like that. It obviously is a hard situation to go through to but not necessarily an impossible one. Talking to few couples and understanding their situation is when we know, it is not necessarily distance that holds one back from loving one another. 

The real life story of Aria and Akib is perhaps one even Nicholas Spark would have difficulty coming up with. Distant from the very initial stages of their relationship, Aria had to move from cities to cities and then countries as well. They fell in love when she lived in Bogra and then shifted to Chittagong and finally thought her parents would settle in Dhaka. Things were going very amazing for them until Aria's parents decided to move to Thailand. This was the most difficult situation Akib could go through because it wasn't easy for him to travel a thousand miles as often. They were getting used to being together most of the day while they could until Aria had to move out to Thailand too. “It gets so difficult. The feeling of not fitting in a country where you are surrounded with strangers gets to you harder when you know that these were the times you needed your partner-in-crime with you.” Aria and Akib have been together for five years and they couldn't be happier. “Only time will let you know if the idea of long distance relationships is really a myth. Patience is the key, my friend. It is all new to me but it is nothing impossible to go through because time passes us by so quickly anyway,” says Ibtida whose partner recently went abroad for his studies. “He gives me his utmost attention and doing that through Skype and phone calls isn't a very easy thing to do, I tell you. I could never be insecure about him and he feels the same way. Do I want him to come back and do I wish I could see him every day other than two times a year? Ofcourse I do.But this is where reality strikes in. It's difficult but we do what we do for the best of our future and I respect that,” says Parisa who can still feel butterflies in her stomach when she Facetimes her partner and it has been three years for them. “I hate sleeping alone and my children stay awake the whole night studying and doing God knows what kids do these days but I keep myself occupied and I have gotten used to it. Job, children and painting sums up my whole day,” says Rehnuma, a working parent, giggling as she talks about her husband who has been working abroad for about seven years now and comes around every year.

Listening to stories only makes us know how difficult it can be for certain couples to be apart from one another and how much we can appreciate our loved ones even without their bodily presence. Love surely conquers all negativity and insecurities and a forever after maybe something that future holds for those lovebirds who never give up on each other. As a friend or a parent we can always support the idea and never look upon it as a difficulty but as a strength. So to those lovebirds who are apart from each other, do not be sad because distance means so little when your partner means so much more.