This I will definitely miss.

The sad thing about LDRs is the "Goodbye for now…till we meet again" moments, which I am in right at this very moment. In a few hours, Dodong will be boarding his Emirates flight (hopefully upgraded to business class again!) back to the land of the camels and sheiks.

I already cried my eyes out, which is quite a  surprise. I know I should be used to this already since this isn't the first time he left. BUT it's not easy to let him go…literally go. Go back to the desert. I will miss him a whole lot. I even think a whole lot is an understatement!

I miss Dodong but there are some things which change during each homecoming. What will I miss about Dodong this time around?

The mere nearness of him

The fact that he is in the same time zone and very accessible via mobile phone. Even just a 5-minute commute to his house (He does live a stone's throw away from my place) or maybe a meet-up within Metro Manila (except Makati because he hates the place. Hehehehe!).

With him back in the desert, I'd have to wait until we would come to a common ground before he'd be able to get back to me. Yes, I'm used to it BUT, of course, I'd want him to be more accessible especially when I need him the most.

The rides with Sharkface (his new Mitsubishi Lancer EX)

With our new found mobility through Sharkface, it's so fun to just go around. Though gas here costs an arm and a leg versus the costs in Dubai, car rides are great for conversations, jokes and holding hands Cheezy? But I love it Especially that this time around, we did get around quite a lot…we got to Pagudpud right?

The food trips!

Well, it has been significantly less this time around since we are both "conscious" about gaining weight now. He also did the GM diet when he saw that it did work wonders for me. Competitive! hehehehe!

When Dodong is here, I do get to eat in more places…his treat of course! I really feel like a princess

The physical intimacy (of course!)

Hugs, kisses, hugs, kisses, hugs, kisses, hugs, kisses, hugs, kisses…need I say more? I think this will appear in all of the top things I will miss about Dodong's being here.

The prayers together

This I believe is the most significant of all. We were able to pray together, on his first Sunday here, during our roadtrip (for safety on the road) and earlier this afternoon before leaving for the airport. I do firmly believe that prayer has and will play a big role in our relationship for the future. We are thankful for all the blessings…most definitely! We truly realized how blessed we are now. And we also prayed for strength, daily safety, abundance, and good health for the coming months.

Hope you'd take the time out (just a few minutes) to pray with us as Dodong and I continue through our LDR journey

Love the distance,

Inday I. Nagintay

Looking forward to tomorrow...

Coming down from my 7th year anniversary high, I've realized that I haven't shared the humble beginnings of my LDR. Penelope and I both are in LDRs but share different perspectives. I am in a relationship with an OFW.

It all begins when you receive THE news of the fly out.

Let it sink in…

Dodong and I were happily cruising along our steady relationship. We saw each other almost everyday, meeting up at the Gold's Gym Galleria after work (we work in waaay different industries and malamang offices) and going home together (since we lived a few villages away from each other).  And then one day, BOOM! One of his raffle entries actually won! Raffle entries is what we call job applications abroad. I know I was wishing this for him to be able to get the big bucks but I was caught off guard when things were just steady…

For 2-3days, I was always silent in our bus trips home. I was absorbing the thought that one day soon, no one would be holding my hand during the 1-hour bus rides or no one to laugh out loud with when watching movies or no one to easily drag to random food trips. This was really was it.

Know the exact day (and time) when is he going to leave

I learned about it before Valentine's Day 2008. And he was scheduled to leave before March 15th. I made him kulit everyday on the exact details of the flight out. Of course, he couldn't confirm on the date until the very day he got his actual ticket (I cannot forget that day: March 9, 2008!). I did my own countdown and made sure I planned out the things I wanted to do with Dodong before he left. So many things I wanted to do but so little time….

Compute for the time difference

Once it was final that Dubai was the destination to be from Dodong, I asked around and Googled what was the time difference between Manila and Dubai. A friend actually emailed me a pretty useful tool: Time Difference Calcultor to help me out (and other couples in LDRs too!) .

Anyways, since I got the actual time difference (Manila is 4-hours ahead of Dubai), I started practicing adjusting to the time diff. So if it was 4PM Manila time, then it would be 12NN Dubai time and so on and so forth….

Let it sink in again…

I know I said only three things but this is strangely the fourth one. This a repeat of the 1st thing to do. I swear, you NEED this. I did. I took time off (at work most of the time since this was my time apart from him) to really just absorb the fact that Dodong would be leaving me, physically in this case. I was afraid, a lot of what-ifs were going through my head (Remember I was traumatized by my family experience…). But I really couldn't do anything because it was (well, it did. duh.) happening…

SIGH.

How about you: what did you do once you got the big news?

Love the distance,

Inday I. Nagintay