When I was reading Wednesday's column regarding long-distance relationships, I wondered what provoked the author to write it. It is obvious that Mr. Long has neither been scarred by an attempted long-distance relationship nor ever exposed to how great a successful one can be.

I have been dating my boyfriend who goes to school at Marquette University for two years. We started dating the last month of our senior year of high school after being good friends for two years. I never dreamed that I would go off to college with a boyfriend. I never wanted "strings." I wanted to be free to do whatever I wanted. But then something happened — I fell in love.

My relationship with Brad has helped make me who I am today, and I would not give it up for anything in the world. The distance has taught us to truly communicate and has made us realize how much we want to be together. I cannot imagine being with anyone else nor would I ever want to be.

I agreed with the column when it talked about driveling phone conversations being a hassle and an annoyance for roommates — but what if your conversations aren't like that? If all that a conversation consists of is reassuring a significant other of your love for them, then of course the relationship is going to fail.

Another statement made by the author that I didn't agree with is that "it's hard to stay intimate with a significant other when there is no physical contact." Since when does intimacy only include sexual content?

Some of the most intimate moments in life can be a deep conversation, a powerful moment or a simple look shared by two souls. Sexual intimacy is part of a relationship, but it is not what a relationship is founded upon. If it is, then that relationship is doomed to fail — whether it is long distance or with the girl next door.

This same objection applies to the "ability to get the same thing next door" reasoning the author used to explain the impending doom of long distance relationships. If a relationship is true love, and has true intimacy, there is no way to replace that with just anyone.

I am not saying that long distance relationships are for everyone or are by any measure easy. They require a lot of hard work and heartache. However, the minute that you are together and you get to look into the eyes of the person you love, you know that all that work was worth it.

Jennifer Lynch

sophomore

Walsh Hall

March 1, 2001

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