Jessica Belmosto

Hi everyone! Welcome to my new blog series, Worth Every Mile. I’ve been in a long distance relationship for just about two months now. I wanted to start this blog for many different reasons. My main reason being, I want to show that it’s possible to make love work even if there are some miles in between. Number two, I want to give hope to those coming out of toxic relationships. There’s a lot of baggage that comes from that and finding a partner who understands and is willing to be patient. I have found that! On top of the lessons, I want to share our journey with all of you! Thank you for tuning in and please feel free to share!

I should start by saying hi. My name is Jess and I’m currently in a long distance relationship. I guess you already knew that based on the introduction. I reside in a small town south of Boston and Bradley lives in western New York. If you ask Siri, she says we live 226 miles apart! He’s worth every mile and then some. We haven’t been together for long but I know he’s the one I will spend the rest of my life with.

I never believed people when they’d say “you’ll find someone when you’re not looking.” or “they’ll come when you least expect it.” I thought that that was some way of them telling me I wasn’t pretty enough to find a man who wanted a real relationship. I’d spent a lot of time in a situationship I had no business being in. Eighteen long months of heartbreak and disappointment. I’d feel okay enough to move on and then they’d come back and tell me things were different. Plot twist! They were never different. After a year and a half of on again off again flings, I said so long, see you never. I’d finally nailed down “my person.” 

You see, Bradley and I met in a nonconventional way. Both of us are part of hockey twitter. I followed him around April of 2018. We’d go back and forth, replying to each other’s tweets about the Bruins. Full transparency, I was scared to message him. I never knew what to say to make him want to talk to me. A “hey, what’s up? Your dogs are super cute.” only gets you so far. After 11 months of us following each other, Bradley decided to shoot his shot. A hockey legend once said, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. He took this one and he got the puck in deep. There was no way I could shoot him down. He was someone I’d wanted to become friends with and someone I considered cool. Who was I to turn away someone who seemed genuinely interested? 

Our original plan was meeting up for dinner in the North End before a Bruins playoff game. He told me he might have an extra ticket for the game and he’d love if I tagged along! I obviously agreed! Why the heck wouldn’t I want to go to a playoff game with someone I was interested in? Sadly, those plan fell through. I was nervous though. I figured he wasn’t going to keep talking to me. Why would he be different from any other dude his age? He’s cute so he probably ghosts girls all the time. I was jaded and expected the worse. Turns out, Bradley wanted to keep talking to me. I was waking up to good morning texts on a daily basis and having phone calls with someone whose voice I was falling in love with.

( Come to find out Bradley wouldn’t have “an extra ticket” he was coming down with full intentions of purchasing two tickets for him and I. )

I remember the first time we talked on the phone. His voice melted me like butter. It was his charm and wit that made me fall so hard for him. Our phone calls weren’t short. They would last for hours on end. We’d talk about anything under the sun. His voice would get sleepier as the time went on. The lulls in conversations never bothered me. Knowing that he was on the other line was enough to make me smile. There were a few times when I called him after having a few too many. I cried. I cried about missing him and wanting to go visit him. I’d convinced myself that I was going to see him a day before my final and drive five hours to my final. Thankfully, he talked me out of it. Bradley’s voice brings a smile to my face. It’s sweet and I can hear his happiness in every word. ( I’m talking to him on the phone as I write this & he has no idea! )

We officially met on May 13. Meeting halfway in Vermont seemed very reasonable. I might’ve been shaking the whole way there because I convinced myself he was Ted Bundy, but turns out… he wasn’t! Bradley told me we could out to eat anywhere and I picked this little whole in the wall buffet. Might I add, it was delicious! It wasn’t until later that night when we were watching the Western Conference Finals when Bradley asked me to be his girlfriend. I remember my cheeks hurt from smiling and I was nodding very quickly. That first night together was really special. We spent most of the night talking and holding hands. I remember the both of us randomly woke up around 4:30am. We stayed awake and watched the sunrise before falling back to sleep. There was something special about that for me. It was something so simple but it made me feel so much joy.

It was hard to plan our tips. I was finishing up school and he was working full time. Somehow we made it work. We made several trips to Vermont and he even made the trek down here. It wasn’t easy but we did it. Goodbyes are never fun either. There’s a lot of ugly crying and plenty of hugs. I thought goodbyes would get easier as time but I was so wrong.

Since May 13th, we’ve made countless memories. My next blog is probably going to a lot longer than this one. We spent two weeks together and I want to share those stories with you all. If you enjoyed this blog please feel free to share it with a friend or follow along so you see the next one!

Love always,
Jess