To be honest, sometimes I feel shy about talking about Joey, just because I’m so worried people will make fun of me for having a long distance relationship. Whenever I talk about him or people ask who he is, I always have to tell them the whole story because I don’t like just saying ‘a close friend from New Mexico’. Because with the way things are these days, some people think that that means I met him on the internet.

Sometimes I wish I was strong enough to just say ‘don’t hate just because long distance works for me and not for you’. But I can never get myself to defend stuff like that. Mostly because I’m too embarrassed. It’s not that I’m ashamed of Joey; I’m proud that he’s mine. It’s just that I remember how much people used to make fun of me for having a long distance relationship with Israel, and it’s the thought of reliving that that sickens me.