Can We Make it Work?

Is getting into a long-distance relationship worth it? 

Everyone has asked these questions when deciding to get into a long-distance relationship. Having many miles and hours between a significant other can be taxing in order to make it work. 

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a boyfriend or girlfriend, keeping a friendship alive from a distance is just as hard. 

Every long-distance relationship has their own way to keep it working. 

Dwayne Curry, a teacher at LHS, has had experience with long-distance relationships in the past. His lasted for one full year and he assumes it worked out because he and his wife have been together for 28 years since. Simply talking on the phone every day and writing letters to each other helped to preserve the relationship. 

There is no need to avoid it; the chances of working out are slim but if both are committed it helps. 

“If you want it, it will work out,” Curry said. 

Teachers obviously have more experience and knowledge with things like this, but LHS students will learn as they go. 

Seniors at LHS are winding the corner of graduating and moving into adulthood, with this coming moving away for many of them. 

Having a significant other can make some of these processes and decisions worse. Deciding whether or not to stay together can come into account. 

Alyson Clanin, a senior at LHS, has been in a relationship with Cody Morse for three years now. They will both be graduating, moving, and becoming long-distance; Clanin is going to WASU. The two are going to try to make it work, but it will be hard since they spend so much time together currently. 

“We are in a healthy relationship, so it is worth a try,” Clanin said. 

For couples already in a long-distance situationship, it is normal for them and the thought of living close to each other is out of reach. 

Myah Reichert, a junior at LHS, has been in a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend from Lewiston for seven months now. They facetime every night, communicate throughout the day and visit each other monthly to help make the relationship work. The time they spend together is much more meaningful because of how rare it is.  

“Long distance isn’t forever,” Reichert said. 

 She plans to go to college in Lewiston upon graduation to be closer to him. 

Any kind of relationship can work or fail whether they live close together or not. Simply communicating through situations, having trust, and keeping reasonable expectations will take the relationship a long way. 

I personally think long-distance relationships are terrible but can be worth it in the long run. If two people are meant to be together they can make any distance work. It is not imperative to see the people I love every day, so the idea of having long-distance relationships and friendships does not seem out of the realm of possibility for me. 

I think an option for people going away for a while is to break up with their significant other and go live their life. If the two still want to be together when they have both settled, great. If not, then no time or happiness was wasted trying to make a long-distance relationship work. 

They are only a car ride away.