Julia Gomez/Staff Writer
My boyfriend Chacid and I have been dating since June 3, 2019. Before the quarantine, we hung out almost every day. Now, we have what feels like a long-distance relationship—despite only living 20 minutes away from each other.
You hear about partners driving each other crazy because they’re stuck at home together, and I genuinely wish that were the case for us. Unfortunately, Chacid has chronic bronchitis and three members of his family have compromised immune systems. Due to concern for their health and safety, we haven’t been able to see each other and have had to come up with creative ways to spend time together.
Aside from occasional surprise visits where we see each other through a car window, we haven’t been able to spend much time together—and it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to any time soon. As crappy as that is, it’s made our relationship stronger. I feel like the time we spent together before was taken for granted. Making plans to go Disney World or take a road trip to St. Augustine after quarantine has been a fun way to escape the fact that we’re currently stuck at home.
We’re giving up a couple months so we can enjoy the rest of our lives.
The lack of intimacy has also taken a toll on our relationship. Intimacy isn’t solely about sex. Cuddling, holding hands and just laying down and talking to each other are all intimate ways we used to spend time together.
While there isn’t a perfect substitute for any of that, falling asleep on the phone together is always comforting. It’s nice to wake up in the middle of the night and know that the person you love is still on the other end of the line.
Finding hobbies to do together while we’re apart has been trickier, but manageable. We play “Animal Crossing” together and watch movies using a chrome extension called Netflix Party, but the most fun we have together has come from streaming video games on Twitch. Chacid streams himself playing games like “Alien Isolation” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” every Wednesday and Saturday at 4:00 PM. I co-host and help him run social media.
Being able to just talk to an audience and build a community that revolves around video games is so much fun. We make each other laugh while we have stupid arguments, like whether or not you should add salt to rice after it’s been made. Both of us have backgrounds in theatre and love performing, so that makes it even better.
It breaks my heart that we probably won’t be able to spend time together on our first anniversary. Our relationship is built on support and communication, and I’ve genuinely never been so happy to be with someone. I’m almost certain he’s my soulmate and right now, there’s nothing I want more than to be able to hug and kiss him.
Whenever I get upset, he tells me, “We’re giving up a couple months so we can enjoy the rest of our lives.”
The idea of losing him is scary, but in order to not compromise our future together, we must sacrifice being together now.
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