By: Hillary
George and I met in May 2010 when he started going to my church and hanging out with a lot of my youth group friends. He joined the Navy near the end of 2008/beginning of 2009. After being stationed in Great Lakes, Illinois for “A” school for a year and one month, George moved to my hometown of Virginia Beach, VA for “C” school, thus where our story begins. After I was home from school for about a month George and I got to know each other better and started hanging out after becoming friends on facebook. I became attracted to his strong yet goofy personality ( we both have a thing for Disney movies, especially “Toy Story”), his handsome good looks (especially his muscles, eyes, and smile), his ability to make friends quickly (he immediately bonded with much of my youth group as well as church adults), and deep faith in God. One night after my orientation as a KMart cashier (don’t judge me) we had a date night and watched “The Prince of Egypt” and a VHS of “Toy Story” and stayed at my house until 1 in the morning. That night, on June 5, 2010, he gave me a note he wrote himself with the first verse of “A Whole New World” from “Aladdin” that said :”So tell me princess…Would you be my girlfriend??” with checkboxes next to yes and no and a smiley face with his signature. I couldn’t resist his charm and was pleasantly surprised by his clever method of asking me out, so of course I said yes, and we were nearly inseparable best friends ever since.
After what was probably the most amazing summer of my life thus far, I left Virginia Beach to begin my sophomore year at Christopher Newport University in Newport News in mid-August, with the drive between us a little over an hour. However, a few days into the first week of classes, George got his ship orders and because there was a married man in his class who got the Norfolk orders he could have gotten, he told me that his orders were in Mayport, Florida-ten hours away from the 757, and a considerable several hours from his hometown of Fort Walton Beach, FL. I was devastated, and he was certainly livid as he really wanted the Norfolk orders.. After he visited me at school for a great weekend together and I spent his “C” school graduation weekend in Virginia Beach with him and his Nana and her friend a couple weeks later, he left the 757 for Florida in mid-September. So far, it has been five months and one day since we first started dating, and almost two months since our relationship turned long distance. Our relationship isn’t perfect and comes with struggles just like any relationship, long distance or not, but we make it work every day and are stronger because of it. What you are about to read is the story of two imperfect human beings making an LDR work with the strains of Navy life (George) and college (me). This is our story.
I wake up in the morning feeling like P.Diddy..just kidding! But at least I have your attention :p But really, each morning I wake up (the time varies depending on when my classes are) with his sweatshirt over my pajamas. It’s the sweatshirt he gave me the evening he asked me to be his girlfriend – at the aforementioned orientation I was freezing while watching several training videos, and after texting George this, he showed up, embraced me, and gave me his oversize charcoal Izod sweatshirt to wear. To this day it keeps me warm and always reminds me of how we first fell in love.
I take a seat at my desk as I admire special trinkets of our relationship: the note he gave me asking me out, a patch from the Boy Scout Jamboree commemorating the 100th anniversary of scouting (George is an Eagle Scout), a bumper sticker for our favorite Christian radio station we always listen to together, a picture I took of him at The Pub in Hampton the weekend he came to visit me at school, a brochure from the Nelson House in Yorktown that same weekend with a green sticker with our names on it and the date commemorating the visit (he did the same with his sticker), and three pictures of the two of us that my aunt took when George first met my grandparents and extended family on my mom’s side on my grandma’s 92nd birthday.
I proceed to check my facebook and email to see if George has sent me anything. Since the ship life requires him to be up earlier than myself, he usually does. The most recent of these emails I’ve read have been about the possibility of me getting an internship in Jacksonville, Florida – maybe as a youth counselor at his new church that he just became an affiliate member of and is on a youth retreat with as I write this – and therefore living in his apartment with him and another guy who goes to University of North Florida over the summer. The prospect of finding an internship was actually my dad’s idea as he recognizes that I’m an adult and encourages me to be independent and also spend as much time with my love as I can. However I am not so sure how my freaker of a mother will feel about this as I have yet to discuss such a prospect with her. Other emails have been about details for a more definite event coming very soon: after nearly two months of not seeing each other, I finally get to spend Thanksgiving with George in Florida! My dad has been planning a Thanksgiving vacation to Florida with me and my sister to see our granddad, aunt and cousin on my dad’s side that we last saw over Christmas, and George gets to finally meet them and spend a few days with us! As the countdown to this vacation continues, I get more and more hyper-excited each day as I am just that much closer to seeing the love of my life again.
After having my “God time” where I read my Bible and write in my journal to pray to God and thank Him for George and I being together and keep him in my prayers, I take a shower, brush my teeth, wash my face, put in my contacts, get dressed, brush my hair, and go about my day. Coffee is key in kick-starting my day right: without it I can’t function, whereas George will drink it regularly but is so energetic he can live without it for a while unlike my otherwise sluggish self. Typically I grab lunch at Panera or somewhere with good food with my friend Ashley, but my schedule is so crazy that even as a communications major and journalism minor I can’t really word it correctly. So here goes:
MWF: History of the Modern World, 1pm-1:50, Forms and Expression in World Literature, 2pm-2:50
(MW) Orchestra 5-7
TR: Interpersonal Communication 8am-9:15, Women’s Chorus 9:30 am-10:45 am, Contemporary Math 11am-12:15 pm
T: Friends in Fellowship Bible Study 4pm-5:15, Intervarsity small group bible study 7pm-9, Class Council 10pm-11pm (I’m historian)
R (Thursday):Afternoon laundry, Intervarsity at 8pm, small group dinner before that
Sundays/Wednesdays: Take Note a cappella 10 pm W, 9:30 pm Sundays
If you couldn’t tell already, I lead a hectic life here at CNU. Something about this campus makes me want to be Superwoman: Imagine what will happen when I take classes in my major and minor and try to become a Resident Assistant and sorority girl next semester! George’s lifestyle isn’t so different though: Wherever he is he always makes sure to plug into a church in the area as well as find a Boy Scout troop to help lead, along with his busy Navy ship life. This is one of the reasons I think our relationship works so well: We’re both very busy and independent people with common interests (and a common dislike named Justin Bieber), and that makes our LDR much easier to handle. Even so, we make time for each other every day whether through email, texting, facebook, or calling each other on Skype or on our cell phones (we both have Verizon).
My family consistently checks in on me and asks about George and whether I’ve heard from him, as do most of my friends. What I always love about my schedule is that most of the people involved in these extracurriculars with me are good friends who know my situation, and as I’ve talked with my friends, gotten advice and met people in similar situations from mine, it’s so reassuring to know that I’m never alone in my relationship struggles. I’m blessed beyond measure to know how God has blessed us and is watching over us always, and this always keeps me going every day.
At night, my day winds down and all I can think of is George and how much I miss him and want to be held in his arms, to feel his touch, to kiss him, to hold his hand while driving in his car, and to fall asleep cuddling against his warm, muscular, Axe-scented body that I find so sexy and irresistible. I check my facebook and email once more, pack my books and prepare my outfit for the next day (Every week I check the weather and write exactly what I’m wearing with which accessories, jeans, shoes, etc for each day of the week because as a fashionista, I love paying attention to every detail), take out my contacts, brush my teeth, remove my makeup and am off to bed.
As I write this I am wearing my boyfriend’s bracelet with the Navy colors (blue and gold) and core values of honor, courage and commitment. I keep this bracelet on all day and in my sleep as I put George’s sweatshirt on over my PJs and turn the lights off and fall asleep with a teddy bear dressed in Navy uniform that he gave me as a gift for our one-month anniversary. I turn to look at my alarm clack making sure I set the alarm, close my eyes, and picture us, me and my best friend and true love George, in my dreams, so we may be together just for a moment, even if it’s just in my head and in my heart. <3 🙂
Hillary
