Technically, Bill and I have been in living apart since June of 2010. My mother says it does not count because we were not married and I chose to go to Norway for the summer again. But somehow Bill and I have managed to make living apart work for the past year. Things to consider when living apart is how much it costs to run two households. I was shocked when our grocery bills were twice as expensive and we were both going out to eat and such things, for the first few months I felt so poor. The other thing was budgeting the cost of visiting the east coast from Texas once or twice a month. I truly respect people who travel for a living. I was having trouble catching up on house work and laundry. Laundry was truly impossible being gone two weekends out of the month.
Bill and I have maximized our travel cost with offsetting the plane ticket cost with using miles we were earning with travel and earning on our credit card. I was shocked that I could get a free ticket about once every 2 to 3 months. That’s when I knew I was catching myself coming and going from DFW to DC.
We really enjoyed our weekends together, we would make mini-honeymoons out of each weekend. We called them our mini-moons. We traveled to DC and would see some sights there. I think after the past 6 months we hit all of the Smithsonian Museums as well as each of the Monuments. We visited Busch Gardens, hit Richmond, VA for the Marine Corps Ball, Annapolis and visited Baltimore. Being in DC and traveling to and from different states is very different from Texas. We could start the morning in the DC proper area, drive a little ways, be in Maryland, and end the day back in Virginia.
The hardest part about this past year was doing all of the things a couple should do, and doing them alone. Most holidays were spent apart, aside from Christmas, birthdays were missed, and evenings out were spent as a single person. I think Bill coped better that I, but then that may be my opinion. The past four months he spent in Japan have been difficult. I had so much on my plate and had to do it all alone. He kept telling me that I was capable, and had a support system, which is all true, I just knew it would all be easier if he would have been home to help. I am glad we do not have any more separation in store anytime soon.
But it is true, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I do know, from the bottom of my soul, that had we not been married, it would have been so easy to bow out of our relationship. We would not have surrvived without our commitment to one another being so strong.
