I never expected to fall in love with someone 5,000 miles away. But love doesn’t care about distance. It just shows up and dares you to say yes.

I met Mila in an online book club. We bonded over a shared love of poetry and late-night messages that turned into video calls. She was in Berlin. I was in Toronto. We never thought it would become romantic — until it did.

There was something about her calm presence, her honesty. Our connection felt deeper than the usual spark. It was built on hours of conversation, shared playlists, and dreams spoken out loud.

The hardest part? Time zones. When she was winding down for bed, I was just getting started. We learned to plan, to be patient, to send voice notes instead of demanding real-time replies.

We didn’t rush to meet. We wanted to build something solid first. When we finally saw each other six months in, I was terrified. What if the magic didn’t translate?

But when she hugged me at the airport, it felt like coming home.

Long-distance taught us to communicate, to trust, to be intentional. It wasn’t easy. We had moments of doubt. Fights about flights and missed calls. But we always came back to each other.

Now, two years later, we live in the same city. But that foundation of distance? It taught us everything about closeness.