Between Mommy and Make-Believe: distance.

Oh! Hey! Look at the new layout.. Compliments of Alexa.. She's my tech-savvy friend. Check out her blog for all things adorable :) Oh! And make-up. She's a boss when it comes to cosmetology. Okay, okay. End shameless plug for Horizon & Form.

Soo.. Speaking of Alexa.. that reminds me of the subject matter of this post. Distance.
With new technological advances, it's so easy to stay in touch with those you love who aren't exactly within walking distance. People capitalize on that privilege every single day. Some more than others. I am one of those people. Some may say that's rather..sadistic of me to mainly choose to spend my time talking to people who are far away.. I say it's choosing the people who play a huge role in my life wisely.

Let's see. Where do I start? Well, first of all, my dad. He's like a best friend to me, and he lives in Michigan. He has lived there most of my life, so it's just kind of a thing I live with and accept as a norm. Sure, the distance can get in the way when life in general gets in the way. It's easy to let a relationship slip away when there's distance involved. I am guilty of that. Sometimes I've even hurt loved ones because of my lack of effort put into a relationship. That includes my dad. I take full responsibility for being terrible at returning calls, texts and Facebook messages. I like to think that I've worked really hard at turning that around.

Moving right along. Next, there's my grandmother, Mom Becky. I've recently been an absolute turd when it comes to communication with her. And she doesn't even live that far away! We are still in the same state. I could sit here and list off all the excuses that seem to be logical reasons as to why I couldn't/didn't initiate conversation and/or reply to her attempts at communication with me. And for that I'm sorry. With distance in the picture, it's really easy to put important people in your life on the back burner to deal with whatever life crisis is currently at hand. But it's still no excuse. These two relationships mean the world to me. They are actually the two key relationships that I credit for my turning out to be a decent individual. So, in these cases, I allowed distance to become a driving factor in the decay of my relationships with two of the most important people in my life. This is something I have started working on and will continue to work on.

Next, there's what I call my "Eisley family". These are people who I have met and grown to love because we share a love for the band Eisley. I found pretty much all of them on Instagram with the exception of my friend, Kasi, who I've known since probably the beginning of secondary school. The others are spread out across the states and even in Canada. These are relationships that I work really hard to keep alive. These people are so important to me. They are there for me whenever I need a shoulder--even if that shoulder is an entire country or states and states away. We always have something to talk about and advice to lend to one another. It makes my days easier. It makes life a little sweeter. And one day we will all unite and there will be an explosion of bunnies and rainbows and unicorns and cupcakes and Disney and Hillary Calhoun bows and happiness. Yes, one day that will happen. So, there's an example of how distance can be just an absolute piece of cake.

Then, there's Isaac. Oh, boy. The saga of Isaac and Chelsea is just too extremely long and complicated to share here. But! I can give you the short...
I met that kid at a Sucre show, which in my opinion is probably the most epic way for me to meet someone I would end up (after lots and lots and lots of complications and sacrifice) being in a relationship with. Yeah, this Isaac and Chelsea thing is quite the complicated matter.
You see, we live four hours apart. Ouch! Right?! I guess it could be worse. We could be separated by many states, many countries, many rivers etc. But instead we are lucky, and we are only four hours apart. I guess we could be more fortunate and live in the same town. But at the same time, I think we like the distance just about as much as we hate it. It allows for each of us to focus on the essence of what makes us our individual selves. And that's so important to both of us. While the road can definitely be rocky at times, we make it work. Do we ever second guess the entire situation? Sure. But we always arrive at the same conclusion: our love for each other surpasses any amount of distance. And sure, juggling our lives in our separate cities has proven to be tiresome at times. However, it's worth it. He's worth every mile.
So there you have it. An instance in which distance is both extremely hard and extremely easy.

Distance. It's a big theme in my life. It certainly makes me appreciate those people so much more. I think I really like the struggle of keeping things alive.. whether it be plants, baby kitties (which by the way, we have two kittens now) or relationships. I think I was born to live with distance being a prominent thing in my life, and I've come to accept and embrace that fact.