My own “Love Biography”

July 27, 2006 at 9:50 am (The Big Move)

I edited names and locations.

Emma and I met during the summer of 2001. I was employed as a assistant waterfront director at Camp LaTiDah, in Rhode Island, USA. She was a unit leader at the same camp, and was part of a program called “Camp America”, that brought internationals to work for the summer. As this was a residential camp, the work time and relaxation time was always spent with your co-workers. I spent time in Emma’s unit, and as time went on, we grew to know eachother on a more detailed level. I always thought she was a beautiful girl with a quick whit and brilliant personality, and started to persue a more loving relationship. We shared our first kiss on July 25th of that summer, and we celebrate that now as our “anniversary day”.

After the summer ended, Emma lived with my family and I for the next 2 months. We spent this time house-sitting for a mutual friend. It was like we had our own little house to ourselves, even if only for 3 weeks. Before Emma’s work visa expired, we traveled many places around where I lived, ending our time together in New York City.

When Emma left that October, a few weeks later, I travelled to the UK for the first time to meet her family. After that trip, we did not see eachother again for six months. This was the longest time we had ever spent apart, and we vowed then and there, never to be separated that long ever again. We called eachother almost daily, and chatted online everyday. I spent hundreds (maybe closer to thousands) of dollars on calling cards. Even though we had this daily contact, it was not the same as being together. I miss her dearly when she is not around, but we have learned to cope with the separation. Since then, we have been separated often, but never for more than 3 months at a time. I have travelled to the UK over a dozen times to be with her, and she has done the same travelling to see me. We estimate that we have spent more than $7000 just traveling to see eachother over the years we have been together. Recently, Emma has enrolled at Bristol Community College, in Massachusettes, in order that we could spend more time together on a permanant level. Last year, she spent over $9000 of her own money to pay for tuition, so that we could live together for that year.

Emma and I have several interests in common. She has taught me about English football, and I know follow it almost as enthusiasticly as she does. When Emma joined a soccer team at college, I made sure I was at every game, cheering her on. I crochet in my spare time, and Emma went out of her way to learn the stitches, so that we can create things together. We cook together, play pool, go to movies, and other “coupley” things. I am a teacher, and Emma comes into my classroom once a week to work with my special needs students. They think she is great! She even got me to join a gym – a feat in itself.

We both love travel, and have taken many vacations together. In the United Kingdom, we have done long-weekends in London, York, Blackpool, Edinburgh, Brighton, and Manchester. We have spend time in Europe, in Barcelona, Ibiza, and Mallorca. In the USA, we have vacationed in New York City, Las Vegas, and New Hampshire. During the summer of 2003, we took a 2000 mile road trip from my home in Rhode Island, to Miami Beach, Florida. We stopped over in several cities, including Daytona Beach and Washington DC.

Emma and our relationship is special to me in so many ways. She had never been in a lesbian relationship before, I felt I had to be more careful and understanding in the beginning stages of our relationship. Because of this, I got to know her much better before things turned to a sexual nature. Emma’s personality (a calm, organized, level-headed, forward thinker) balances mine out fantasticly. During times when my family and I have gone through health concerns and untimely deaths, she has been there as the rock of support I need. When I have my own health concerns, she has been there to nurse me back to health. Without her, I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

Emma and I have dealth with separations before, and they are always heart-wrenching and painful. If we had to continue our relationship as it is now, with periods of separation, to the point that I have physical symptoms related to the depression caused by our separations. I feel that we won’t be able to achieve the dreams we have for ourselves if we have to continue to be separated. If permitted to live in England with Emma, we plan on getting a house of our own, and eventually, adopt children. This is much more possible to do with the laws the way that they are in the UK, as far as same-sex couples are concerned.