Thursday, February 7, 2013

Long Distance Date Night

I flew back to Washington on January 4th and I won't return to London until April 20th.  That's 106 days that Jon and I are spending apart - hopefully the longest we'll ever be separated by an ocean.  We're struggling with the distance, to be honest, though we're each making every effort to make these months easier for the other.


This is the first Valentine's Day that we'll not be together.  In 2009, Jon took me out to a fancy dinner in Mayfair and I treated us to a luxe hotel in South Kensington for the night.  I was living in DC in February 2010, but Jon flew over for a long weekend and we had a blast with another friend who was visiting at the same time.  2011 was a quieter affair, and in 2012 I made him a home cooked meal on the 14th and then we spent a belated weekend at the cottage in Ireland.  This year, we're trying something new - we're having a long distance date night!  Here's how it will work:

I'll send Jon a recipe.

Jon will send me a recipe.

We'll agree on a movie.

On Sunday, February 17, at the same time, we'll prepare the two dishes.
We'll open up our laptops and log into Skype.
We'll start the film and dig into the food.
And we'll chat through the whole thing.

It's as close as we can get to celebrating Valentine's Day together this year.  I'll probably cry at the end of the date, because that happens sometimes when I'm really missing Jon, and there will definitely be times when Charlie comes to interrupt us.  But when you're long distance, creativity and understanding keep the romance alive - and that'll get you through the tough patches!  Well, that and texts like this one...



27 comments:

  1. This is so sweet. I keep saying that we've never really done Valentine's Day, but that's because we've always been together and I just made a nice dinner and Rob would bring flowers home with him. Now all of a sudden I'm like, hoping and praying that my flight gets in before midnight so we can sort of have a Valentine's Day together. Skype is such a God-send!

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  2. This is so lovely. You seem to be making a brilliant job out of long distance, I know it can be so hard. I hope you both have a lovely valentines day, sounds special :)

    Harri x

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  3. thank you, Harri! it's taking a LOT of work on both our parts to make it easier - sounds counterintuitive right? but so worth it :)

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  4. everything's relative, I guess! when you're together, the last thing you want to do is... say, do the dishes together. you want him to do it so you can veg out. and when you're apart, all you want is the opportunity to do the dishes together! fingers crossed for your flight :)

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  5. Sending all the happy thoughts your way. I did long distance, albeit not across an ocean, for about two years and it was tough. I can only imagine how tough it can be for you. At least y'all have really cute/good ideas for dates together.
    xo, Maria

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  6. This is such a cute idea! Since you can't be with him, this sounds like the next best thing :)

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  7. CUTE :) Your positive outlook will get you through! xoxoxo

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  8. Long distance is so much work! But I love your recipe idea and like everyone else said, Skype is the bomb. Except for when it's not working, then it's the most frustrating thing in the universe.

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  9. you are a genius. Since we first got together my boyfriend and I have been spending each Valentine's Day and anniversary apart.This is such a cute idea to try and feel closer!

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  10. Love it! I promise April will be here before you know it :) All those texts, calls, cards, etc definitely help - I have every email Lee and I wrote to each other while we were apart saved, and most of them printed out. I love rereading them :)

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  11. Why am I crying right now??? Seriously. You guys are adorable. This is such a good idea. I totally wish we had done this when Nick and I lived apart!

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  12. You two are so cute. I know how difficult a long distance relationship can be, but I think the idea of a date night is so perfect. I hope it eases the pain of the distance, even if just a little :) xoxo

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  13. doesn't matter how far - it's always TOO far! thanks, lady :)

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  14. oh my God. I'd almost rather not Skype at all then have a Skype that doesn't work. SO frustrating!

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  15. haha thank you - let me know how it ends up for you two :)

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  16. I think I have to make a scrapbook of our communications for the visa, right? and for posterity, of course :)

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  17. oh no! no crying yet. save it till after the date, when they're happy tears!

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  18. oh thank you Joelle! we had a funny conversation last night when he suggested we watch Die Hard as our film and I tried to be all loving and supportive instead of "WTF?" and he dragged it out for a few minutes before admitting it was a joke all along! meanie :P

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  19. that is an ADORABLE long-distance date idea! i totally understand how the distance can get to you, but it sounds like you guys are doing a great job of staying connected. x

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  20. I'm definitely stealing this idea for Valentines Day. I haven't been able to spend Valentines Day with my fiance for the entire 3 years we've been together so this will be a better way to spend it.

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  21. oh yay do! tell me what movie you pick - that's what we're having trouble with. typical, haha

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  22. this is a really great idea and it is even better that your boyfriend is into doing things like this! when i was long distance with my bf it was pretty much impossible to get him to agree to cute things like this .. hence why i HATED the long distance... enjoy your date! :)

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  23. what a great idea! i actually love valentine's day, always have, and my boyfriend just doesn't get it. mainly because he is german, but more so because he's just a typical guy, but i know the romantic inside of him would be thrilled with this idea. don;t know why we didn't think of it before :)

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  24. haha - don't worry, we're having very manly food and are NOT watching anything resembling a rom-com. it won't be too girly :)

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  25. but I bet you found other ways? EVERYONE has their own ways of being romantic!

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