In Pursuit of Women (The Long Distance Improbability) Part 4

Dear Anonymous Reader,

The internet is, in short, glorious. A person can almost never leave their home and not be in want of anything. From Facebook to Netflix and all the other bajillion sites in between (you can even have your groceries delivered to your door), the internet is virtually full of limitless possibilities.

Well, this next girl was before all that went mainstream.

I was in Jr. High (I think), and I met this girl at a youth camp. It ended up turning into one of those short, week long crushes (only thing was, I'm pretty sure at the time she was more interested in my friend than in me), but we exchanged numbers/addresses anyway so we could write (snail mail...back in the day).

We ended up actually writing for a few months after that.

We'd write each other ever other week or so, and eventually got to calling each other pretty often. And surprisingly enough (and probably cause I didn't get the attention of any other girls around me), I actually really started to like this girl. So much so, I asked her to be my girlfriend in one of the letters...and she said yes.

Aw, how cute, huh? Yeah, sure, score one for Sean.

But like most guys my age (what, 13 maybe?), it was short lived. For me, not being able to see someone in person just plain sucked. So eventually, I broke it off...whatever you wanted to call some short lived long distance fling at 13 years old. And eventually, we stopped writing each other altogether.

Such is life.

I don't really count that one as a first girlfriend (argue if you like), nor this next one. Mainly because I was young and also, because of the distance, to me, it wasn't anything tangible anyway.

Now, on to Long Distance Chick numero 2.

This girl happened after the internet age invaded our home...which was later in Jr. High. I got sucked into the chat room scene and ended up talking to this one girl quite often. Her sn (screen name, for those post AIM) was godsgirl-something, and we'd talk almost every night.

To save time, it was roughly a repeat of the letters girl, except faster (and she was from Canada). This time, however, I had never met her in person.

Now sure, we could go on about how it could have been anybody...

Poltergeist, anyone?

...but for the sake of my sanity, we'll assume she was who she said she was.

But like the letters girl, this one faded almost as quickly after a couple of months. 

My lesson? No long distance.

Even though I was pretty young at the time, what I learned about myself is that I hate long distance relationships and will avoid them at all costs (and after over 10 years, nothing's really changed there). It's not that they're necessarily bad as much as they're just insanely difficult. Granted, some people posses the perfect mentality for it, but I'm not one of them. Barring an act of God, I want to be within short driving distance of whoever it is I'm dating.

Because truth be told, I'm a cuddler, and I wanna cuddle weekly...not every 6 monthlies. 

But seriously, I enjoy face to face quality time. Sitting in a coffee shop (even though I don't drink the stuff) talking, watching movies, playing music, taking walks, going out on dates more tangible than Skype, dancing to cheesy music in parking lots...all that sappy stuff.

Kind of hard to do when she's half a country away.

At any rate, as corny as long distance may be to some, and as perfectly logical to others, I can at least say I've dipped my toes in the proverbial water. I'm not vehemently against it...I just don't prefer it...at all. 

And I'm glad I got it over with early.

Sincerely,

-Sean