1,903 days. 45,672 hours. 2,740,320 minutes.

That is the amount of time between March 15, 2020 and May 31, 2025. Which makes it the amount of time Caitlin and I will have spent as a long-distance couple.

They say “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” So what happens to your heart when the absence stretches over five years?

Well, I can only speak for us, but I know it has made our love so much stronger than it would have been otherwise. It has forced us to become excellent communicators, to sacrifice daily for one another, and to put in the hard work that is necessary to make the other person feel seen, heard, known and loved…from hundreds of miles away.

As difficult as it has been to be apart from the person we love most in the world, it has also made us so completely and absolutely sure that we were made for each other. And that is a gift.

(Please Note: This is not my recommendation to do long distance if you can avoid it. Most of the time it kinda sucks.)

***

Fortunately, our story didn’t begin with long distance. In fact, it began at a distance of about 50 yards.

We met during our sophomore year at Notre Dame. My dorm (Dunne Hall) and Caitlin’s dorm (Pasquerilla East) were directly across from one another.

Our relationship began in the same way all great ones do—with friendship. We won’t get into who liked who first (it was totally me) but after a year of orbiting around one another in our friend group, I finally worked up the courage to ask Caitlin out.

And after a legendary first date (ask us about it at the wedding) it was clear that we were meant to be more than just friends.

The next year was glorious. We were falling in love, we became seniors, and it felt like we were living on top of the world. And then…

***

COVID. Ah, remember those fun times? Well, the pandemic put an abrupt end to our senior year, postponed our graduation ceremony by two years, and kept us apart for months at a time.

In the middle of it all, Caitlin moved out to Pittsburgh for her year of service and would eventually settle there for medical school at the University of Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile I was looking for a job in a time where most companies were laying people off. Eventually, I decided to let God take the reins and he led me to Dynamic Catholic. So I moved to Cincinnati, which is ironically pretty much the same distance I was from Caitlin already.

***

Both of us have flourished where we are. We’ve found a rhythm of seeing each other in person when we can and we’ve spent a mind-boggling number of hours on Facetime or on the phone.

But we cannot tell you how excited we are for our wedding day. It will be the day we close the chapter on long distance. (And it will be the day we trade the pitfalls of long distance for the daily annoyances of living together!)

On that day, we will honor how God brought us together and how our love has grown. Then, we will step into the future, finally in the same place together.

We can’t wait to share that moment with you.

Registry

If you are shipping a gift, please send it to the following address where the couple will be living after the wedding: 711 Meadow Wood Drive, Apt. 7 Crescent Springs, KY, 41017