Olivia Parker 
On a Thursday in October I texted the guy I was dating at 9:15 in the morning to ask how his interview went. He answered at 6:40 that night with one word, good. I spent those nine hours building an entire story out of nothing. By lunch I had decided he was losing interest, and … Read more
I spent three weeks convincing myself I was being paranoid before I finally admitted that something had actually changed. He was not doing anything dramatic, he was just doing less. That is the hardest part about losing interest in a long distance relationship. There is no single moment, just a slow fade you can talk … Read more
I stayed in a long distance relationship for four months after I already knew it was over, because I could not tell the difference between normal distance struggles and actual warning signs. Every long distance relationship is hard sometimes. That is not the problem. The problem is when the hard stuff stops being occasional and … Read more
The first time my boyfriend flew out to see me, I had planned every single hour of the weekend. By Sunday we were both exhausted and a little snappy with each other, and neither of us understood why. It took a few visits to figure out that a good long distance visit is not the … Read more
There was a stretch last year where my boyfriend and I talked every single day and I still felt like I barely knew him. We were reporting our days to each other, not actually sharing them. Talking on the phone is not the same as feeling close to someone. I learned that the hard way … Read more
My boyfriend and I spent almost two years living eight hundred miles apart. The hardest part was never missing him, it was watching the romance turn into a scheduling call. We got so good at logistics that we forgot to flirt. Bills, time zones, whose turn it was to plan the next visit, that was … Read more
The first real thing I ever said out loud to my boyfriend was at eleven at night on a Sunday in March. We were at my kitchen table and I said I think I am scared you will get bored of me. It took me nearly three years of dating to say a sentence that … Read more
For our first eight months, a virtual date meant both of us on video saying so what else is new. It was not a date, it was a status meeting with worse lighting. The fix was not a better app or a faster connection. It was giving the call something to do besides staring at … Read more
A bad long distance day does not usually start with a fight. Mine started with a dropped call, a gray sky, and a coworker showing me her engagement ring. By six that evening I was convinced the whole relationship was a mistake. By nine the next morning I thought it was fine, which tells you … Read more
Month seven was when I nearly quit. Not because anything went wrong, but because nothing was changing and I was tired of being brave about it. I remember sitting in my car outside the grocery store doing math on how many more months of this I had left. The number was big and my patience … Read more
