OK, first of all thank you Jon for taking the words right out of my mouth in reference to the torture that is only being able to see your partner on weekends... ;)
I was in a long-distance relationship for 4 years. We met in the summer and had the same hometown but went to seperate colleges. Colleges about 800 miles apart. We only ever saw each other on breaks from school or on very rare visits for long weekends. The summers were our longest times together, but we both had so much going on in our lives that we could never seem to count on more than a month at a time uninterrupted.
All in all we had a very healthy relationship. Communication was a big thing and was easily accomplished with email and phone calls. The most important thing, however, is you have to be absolutely, positively sure you want to be with that person and only that person. I was in college and in a fraternity and temptation was around every corner. Sometimes I would get drunk and get tempted, but I never ever cheated on her because I simply didn't want to. If you aren't 100% committed, you will either cheat or be completely miserable.
Another very important component is trust. She was a good looking girl in college and in a sorority. I know for certain she could have hooked up every night of the week and could have had boyfriends and I would never know (and I now know she probably did, but I'll speak to that in a second). If I didn't trust her completely, I would have been wracked with jealousy and paranoia.
The last important ingredient is that you have to be independent people. Both her and I were perfectly happy handling our own affairs and handling our trials and tribulations on our own. Granted, I would have loved to be involved in every aspect of her life, but we were able to deal with not having each other around 24/7.
So, I firmly believe long-distance relationships can work. That being said, her and I are no longer together. It turns out she was a lying bitch who completely used me for emotional and financial support. She ended up leaving me when something better came along and cheated on me while she was taking my money and support, all with the excuse that she didn't want to hurt me.
But, that doesn't make her a bad person.
But, this all happened when we were finally together for a long period of time. I was never attractive enough to be with her so I don't blame her for ditching me when a bo-hunk came along. My life also didn't seem to turn out like she expected when we first got together, so I don't blame her for being dissappointed.
Bottom line, long distance relationships can work and can be rewarding. The other bottom line is Amy and Danilo should stop their whining...
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I don't know why they call this stuff <a href="http://www.foundrymusic.com/BPM/columns.cfm">hamburger</a> helper. It does just fine by itself, huh? I like it better than <a href="http://www.biglug.com">tuna</a> helper myself, don't you, Clark?</font></center>
This message was edited by Dan on 6-15-01 @ 10:27 AM