The abilty to influence others

Last night I met my best friend's boyfriend, Eric, they needed a ride to a party since they had been drinking before hand, so I gave up my plans that night to stay with them to then drive them. Of course, since Sam is still away for about 47 days, seeing couples being all touchy, lovey and cute makes my heart ache. But as I was driving them to the party, my friend noticed how I had one of Sam's passes from class pinned to the roof of my car. She started to cry, and she looked at me and said "I miss Sam, I miss him so much for you, I can't imagine what you go through, you two are perfect together, he treats you so well, he takes time out of his day to talk to you whenever he can. You're miles away and he still loves you." I was speechless, here I am, late at night driving on a busy road, with street lights speeding by and she's telling me all this. Then she said "Eric, I base our relationship off Mary Beth and Sam, everything they do I want to do with you, the way they treat each other and feel for each other I want for us. They are what I base us off of." No one said anything, no one knew what to say, I had no idea that Sam and I had any influence on anyone. I didn't know we meant anything to anyone, granted Annie was drunk, but this morning I asked if she meant what she said she said she meant every word.

When I dropped them off, I started to cry, I couldn't help it, I had been ignoring everything fiber of me missing Sam for weeks, and now I had to face it. But through the heart ache I realized how much of a influence and inspiration you can be if you're in a healthy relationship. And a big part of that comes from being strong, trusting and faithful while your significant other is away.  If you can show others that distance doesn't hamper anything between you and your other, then you can be a good influence in a world full of negative influences. I guess through this whole time, I forgot about the people surrounding me, I was focused on just Sam and I and my support group, I didn't even think about anyone else, any other couples. So, I decided that whenever I'm asked about Sam and I, I won't say how hard it is, I won''t focus on my missing him like crazy, but I'll focus on the gift we have been given to grow closer and stronger through distance. I know that not every couple that faces long distance becomes stronger, but it was possible and luckily Julie, Cait and I have been strong and trusting enough to get postive out of our relaitonshiops. And I think its good to understand how infliuenceacal and insirpsing that can be to other couples.

So, if you are in a long distance relationship, or even just in a really healthy relationship, be the guide for others, listen and help others, share your happiness with them.