by Eliz Marie

Created on: May 06, 2011

From Miami to New York, from Washington D.C. to L.A., more like California to Australia. Can long distance love endure the Pacific Ocean? Let’s just say love owns that ocean, and every island in between.

What started as a post college graduation internship in the land of Oz, turned into a whirlwind love affair complete with a wedding this October.

I’m the yank. And in May 2008, while I was a college graduate, not on my priority list was entering the real workforce. I travelled Down Under to work as an intern at a non-profit organization in Sydney with University of Dreams instead.

Best idea ever.

I went down with sixty other Americans and while I didn’t manage to leave my heart in San Francisco after studying for my 4-year bachelor degree there, I did manage to leave my heart in Sydney after a summer stay in Darling Harbour.

I fell head over heels in love with an Aussie. The Aussie was my boss, and the CEO – I promise it was nothing like Clinton and Lewinsky. We were both youngins and this love was no secret; although it was everything on the outside that had its odds against us. In August 2008, I said goodbye to my former high school rugby player and his sweet accent and headed back home. Oceans a part, the distance day after day, the side effects of a mental illness, and his heart that wanted something better for me ended our romance.

Heartache doesn’t even begin to explain our lives for the next two years. We tried to move on with our lives- yet it never seemed right. Failed relationships, jars of tears, pleads to God in the night and both the love and pain endured during the fight for a life of someone who suffered from Bipolar, I sent my Aussie an e-mail last August. The Aussie underestimated how stubborn this yank truly was and on August 20, 2010, my birthday, I sent him something that would change our lives forever. In the e-mail was a package; in the package was a plane ticket.

“Here’s hope,” would sum up it up.

We both needed hope. I just had more of an idea where it was. Hope for life. Hope for love. Hope for everything.

On October 1, 2010 we reunited face to face on the California west coast. While I love the invention of Skype, one too many difficult conversations had taken place with it, and here I finally fell into his arms again.

We picked up right where we left off. This time, not over Skype. The passion, the love, the excitement was abounding, but so were all the pressures of life that stood before

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