Ashton and I met at a Bible study just one month before I was moving to a different state!
We hung out multiple times, sad that I was moving 16 hours away. Before I moved, we did so many fun activities together, feeding the homeless, going to Bible studies, going out to dinners, visiting the gun range, and I even rode on the back of his motorcycle for the first time (SCARY, but so much fun). He made me amazing dinners, and it genuinely felt like we were living in a movie.
Neither of us planned on dating, let alone doing long distance, but after the long phone calls during my 16-hour drive, we couldn’t resist continuing to talk to each other. We kept up with each other, talking on the phone every single day. I was planning a trip to California to visit a friend and jokingly invited him, secretly hoping he’d say yes. He DID, and ever since then, we’ve been traveling together.
It wasn’t long before I officially became his girlfriend, even though we swore we’d never do long distance. But we both knew the relationship we had was too special to give up on. I fly to him, he flies to me, or we meet somewhere new.
When we’re not traveling or planning our next adventure, we make sure to show up for our weekly date nights. (Non-negotiable — one night a week, we set aside time to FaceTime and hang out.) We watch shows together, play online games, ask each other deep questions (we use the Candle app for prompts), plan our next trip together, or enjoy dinner together over the phone.
We even got the cute idea from LDRdate to DoorDash each other food and eat together while on the phone. It was so much fun!
Long distance is NOT easy, but it truly makes the heart grow fonder. There are so many ways to love each other, even when you’re thousands of miles apart. You learn how to communicate quickly and build such a strong foundation together.
We’re documenting everything on our Instagrams @alyluvslove and @lovrboyash if you’d like to follow along ❤