Here I am, alone again in Piraeus. My sweetheart had come to visit me for six weeks, and last Thursday he left again for London. His stay was heaven, and now I’ve got to get used to being without him once more – BUT ‘only’ for seven weeks, then I’ll be with him in London for another seven. What sort of relationship is this, you ask? Well, a long-distance one…
Real love isn’t always next door; sometimes you’ve got to search far and wide for the right one. And when you find him or her, DON’T let them go, no matter what the difficulties! Ian and I ‘met’ on the film site IMDb; we’re both big fans of classic movies, and that’s what we started chatting about. After a while, our conversations turned into a daily email exchange that became more and more personal – and I started falling for his charm and humour and knowledge and fabulous looks, and wanting to really get to know him! And so, one day about 18 months ago, I took a plane to Heathrow where he met me – and the sparks flew immediately: I knew I’d found the man of my dreams at last.
Ever since, we’ve been visiting each other for long spells, but also with long intervals between the visits – he’s got his job in London, I’ve got my daughter and my parents here in Greece. So what is it like to be together half the time and apart the other half? Well, of course it gets lonely sometimes, despite the daily emails and phone calls – but I can tell you: if it’s the real thing, then it’s worth it! We’re such a perfect match, we’ve never had a row or even an argument – and, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, so we REALLY get to appreciate each other.
Besides, it’s nice to have TWO homes – and very different ones at that! London, the bustling multi-cultural metropole of Britain, and Piraeus, the laissez-faire Mediterranean seaport… Life can hardly get boring like that!
Last summer, we went on a holiday from here to Angistri, a lovely little island in the Saronic Gulf, a whole new experience for my sweetheart and literally a week in Paradise.
This summer, we’ll go from London on a trip to Ireland, which I’ve last seen 25 years ago!
And, of course, as far as possible we spend the important days of the year together, complete with all the traditions of the country we’re in – we had our Christmas turkey in London, and our Easter lamb in Piraeus…
We’re together in summer and in winter, we share our time, our joys, our worries and problems, and we know that the other one is ALWAYS there – even if at the moment he’s at the other end of Europe…
The airport – it has become a symbol for us, our connection gate, once a scenery of sorrow and parting, then again a scenery of the boundless joy of being reunited.
It’s not always easy, the longing and waiting for our next spell together – but I know now that when you’ve found the right one in your life, you mustn’t let ANYTHING come in between; not even a distance of 1,500 miles!
Roberta Franklin 