How long?

[Operator 1,927]

Dang, 12 trips! And here I am, not sure I can even make one!

Yeah she took a lot of convincing...I'm not much to look at...but seriously; if you are in love with this woman you should do everything in your power to go visit her and meet her family and see where she is from. I understand the "sometimes you just know" feeling, I really do. I can only suggest that you read some of the horror stories of people who "just knew" here on this website. Intelligent people who were taken for a ride and have had their lives turned upside down.

[His karma 20]

We were together 1.5 years before filing and that was after alot of talking about where we would settle, what about my kids, his daughter all that good stuff

[JeffClau 0]

Pah - you're all starters

We first had a relationship 33 years ago <gulp> at college. Took up where we left off in 2008 so to speak. What I find a little sad is how fast the last 5 years has gone and therefore how keen we are to get this move done !

And I thought I had everyone beat.

We met and dated in High School 20 years ago. My fiance was an exchange student. We went our separate ways when the time came because we didn't think it would work out being so far away from each other. Kept in touch over the years and finally took up where we left off about a year ago.

[Anna Grant 169]

Pah - you're all starters

We first had a relationship 33 years ago <gulp> at college. Took up where we left off in 2008 so to speak. What I find a little sad is how fast the last 5 years has gone and therefore how keen we are to get this move done !

Ah! I thought we were definitely going to be the winners as we first met 22 years ago. We had a long distance relationship for a year which ended due to many different challenges - mainly it just wasn't the right time in either of our lives.

I had wondered how he was over the years - was he happy. In October 2011 I 'Googled' him and he'd recently set up a FB page (I found out later it was a client of his that did it for him). It was definitely him. I sent him a FB friend request. He responded and the rest was Chemistry. I mean History. He proposed by e-mail 6 days later (we hadn't even chatted by phone or video by then although we'd sent each other photos of how we were now).

We often wonder about the timing of my sending that FB friend request - the timing was just right for both of us. We received our NOA2 last week after almost 9 very long months and we hope to get married on his 65th birthday in July. I am 50 and neither of us have experienced love like this before and it just grows and grows every day.

[rjm_cmyk 75]

I think in some relationships you are just not "synced" at certain times in your respective lives - at others you coincide and there you go . Also I'm probably a little bit more mature than when I was in my early 20's. Only a little bit though....

[ricnally 259]

Pah - you're all starters

We first had a relationship 33 years ago <gulp> at college. Took up where we left off in 2008 so to speak. What I find a little sad is how fast the last 5 years has gone and therefore how keen we are to get this move done !

Same here! Didn't date, but were friends in University 30+ years ago, and ever since. Moved apart, married other people, got divorced, then reconnected with each other in 2009, discovering something that had perhaps been smouldering there all along. And I agree on how fast time passes now, and how anxious we are to finally get going on the next part of our lives. Good luck!

[jenilea 0]

We met in August and were engaged in December and filed in December Pretty quick but when you know you know !

[rjm_cmyk 75]

Same here! Didn't date, but were friends in University 30+ years ago, and ever since. Moved apart, married other people, got divorced, then reconnected with each other in 2009, discovering something that had perhaps been smouldering there all along. And I agree on how fast time passes now, and how anxious we are to finally get going on the next part of our lives. Good luck!

We have more in common than you might realise as we are a Richard and Alison........

[ricnally 259]

We have more in common than you might realise as we are a Richard and Alison........

wow!

[LA and CF 9]

Six years here. Met April 2006, pretty serious by summer 2006, lots of visits in 2007 and onwards, and filed for K-1 FINALLY in November 2012! It feels like forever and I cannot cannot cannot wait for the distance to be over and done with!

exactly the same with me, though 7 years for us, and finally filled back in august 2010 cant wait to be together and get all this over with omg!

[dreambig 2]

we're going on 6 months now...i filed five months after having met. As to the 2nd part of your question...about "how we cope," now that's the more challenging answer. My soulful partner lives in Cuba & I in Los Angeles. The embargo makes things very challenging. Skype is banned on the island (or unavailable), there is no WIFI & phone calls cost 85 cents a minute, from LA to Havana. We have both attempted to snail mail each other on 10 separate occasions however neither of us have received the other's mail. He is a beautiful dancer and poet, so his original compositions of poetry are all lost somewhere in oblivion. He emails me once in awhile, after having stood in line for an hour & a half at an Internet "cafe." It's an excruciating separation, however inexplicably, our connection has deepened throughout. I don't understand it myself, except to simply accept the beauty of it. On a daily basis we both get to practice much patience and foresight. All will be well. We're building a great story for a memoir one day

May peace be your journey.

[K&E 0]

6 months here

Edited April 23, 2013 by K&E

[Ag-n-Harlan 16]

For us it was around 9 months

[BaBamSam 239]

About 3.5 years for us. Started dating in the US, but about a year and half of us living together/dating was in the UK.

While we're apart (a lot for the last year, due to work and visas), we keep in touch by FaceTime and iMessage primarily. We decided to file during his last visit here in November 2012 even though neither of us had previously had any intention to get married - at least for a very long time. But, obviously, we couldn't be happier now.

[Ralph and Meghan 19]

met online in 2010 for real in 2011 engaged in 2012 and getting married in 2013. 3 years for us and counting.