I'm _____ with my boyfriend. I grappled with that as an opening sentence because I couldn't find a word that actually worked. Obsessed sounded too negative, enthralled didn't convey what I needed it to, and captivated reminded me of a specimen. So I settled on _____.  In the healthiest way possible-- I am obsessed with/enthralled by/captivated by this man and all the things that make him... him. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly; all of it fills my soul till it feels like I'm going to overflow but I never do and I end up just wanting more. So yes, in the most simple of terms I am obsessed/captivated/enthralled. I am also 6,893 miles away.

Six thousand eight hundred and ninety three thousand miles sounds extremely daunting and "undoable", for lack of a better word, but our relationship is a little different; it always has been and it probably always will be. I met my boyfriend my senior year of college vacationing in Miami during spring break. I didn't want to be in Miami, I didn't want to be club hopping and I didn't want to stand in a line that was wrapped around the block at 12 am, but I did. I stood behind a group of guys with southern accents and was instantly intrigued. He was one of those guys. That was in March of 2018 and I've thought about him every day since.

This isn't a blog post about the story of how I fell in love with my boyfriend (which I might tell later) rather it's a story of where we are now. Currently, we both have jobs that will keep us out of the United States for the next twoish years. Even if we were in the U.S., he lived in down South and I lived up North so establishing a relationship for the last 21 months was trial & error, dedication and a lot of patience. It was all those things but it was also only possible because of disposable income and cheap flights.

Disposable income and cheap flights

is the reason why I am currently writing this on a plane going from NYC to Seoul, South Korea. Disposable income and cheap flights is why it's become so normalized for me to fly any amount of time to see my partner. Disposable income and cheap flights is why I have a countdown app on my phone, because that feeling I described earlier is at it's peak when I physically get to be with the man I love. Disposable income and cheap flights has allowed me to fall in love while simultaneously seeing the world.

December 2nd is our official anniversary. It is the weekend after my birthday and almost exactly 8 months to the day that I got on my first plane to visit him. For our first official anniversary we were so lucky to be able to spend it together. I'll check back in after my trip to show what we did!

My trip was filled with cafes, pushy people, lots of stares, smiles, the cold, kindness, Google Translate, getting lost on public transportation, and cab rides that made me feel like I was in a Fast & Furious movie. I wouldn't change a single thing.

When I met my boyfriend it wasn't love at first site it was  恋の予感  (Koi No Yokan):  It can defined as the sense someone has upon one of the first meetings with another person that the two of them are going to fall in love. This differs from the idea “love at first sight” in that it does not imply that the feeling of love exists, rather it refers to the knowledge that a future love is inevitable.

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