Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Exactly 2 weeks from today, my fiancé, Nicholas Benjamin Ertsgaard, will be BACK in Decatur. And he's staying!!!

That is in 14 days.

Or 336 hours.

Or 20,160 minutes.

But who's counting???

Oh wait. I AM.

I have not seen this man in person (Skype does NOT count) since Thanksgiving break. November 26th to be exact.

So that means that by the time he gets back, it will have been 3 1/2 months since I've kissed him, touched him, hugged him... ANYTHING. Let me tell you, it's not fun. And before I saw him for that week in November, I hadn't seen him since September 5th - the horrible day that I dropped him off at the train station in Springfield and watched him get carried away down the tracks. Seriously, it was HORRIBLE.

This isn't the first time we've done long distance, so we got used to it again pretty quickly, but it doesn't mean that it hasn't been hard. Especially since, if this is even possible, I feel like I love him even more than a few years back when we did distance the first time around! Not only that, but we're engaged now and trying to plan a wedding! I hate that I can't have him by my side when we talk about wedding plans; everything has been through a computer screen. I thought we were done with distance for good when I came to Millikin, but obviously sometimes things happen and you can't control them, so he moved to Texas to be with his family. This act reminded me why I love him so much and why I want to marry him - he is so caring and such a good person. So after a week of him being gone (and being seriously bummed out), I came to terms with the fact that, yes, he was in fact gone, and got used to it.

Once I got used to it again, things were better, and I had school to distract me, but there were still some really tough moments. There has always been those two sayings about being apart from someone: "Out of sight, out of mind" and "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Luckily for us, the latter is true. It has every time, and this time, it's made us even stronger as a couple than before. I have no doubt that we will be able to get through anything in our marriage because we've already had to deal with some hard stuff as a couple. And being apart for so long makes you never want to take anything for granted. Ever. Even the simplest things, like waking up and giving each other a kiss, cooking together, or laying in bed watching stupid tv and eating popcorn. Everything matters, and everything is wonderful.

It's almost hard to believe that there is only 2 weeks until he comes back - it seems too good to be true! Our original plan was that he was going to stay for a teaching program this Spring and would be visiting this weekend for his birthday weekend! And then I wouldn't have seen him again til Spring Break or even until May when my lease is up! But I'll take 2 more weeks of not seeing him and not spending his birthday with him if it means that he'll be back with me for good :) And then we can celebrate all of the special occasions  we haven't been able to be together for, and I will have the peace of mind in knowing that this time was in fact, the very last time we will have to do long distance. He's mine for life, now! :)

<3