A Newfound Sensitivity

On the way to Loyola, actually while at the Greyhound bus station, I talked to a random girl about bus schedules and such. She was an LSU student, but I didn't know any more about her than that. I couldn't help but wonder if she was on the same mission as I...
...and sure enough, upon our arrival in New Orleans, she was greeted by a young man who ardently embraced her. I watched them walk off together, blissfully ignorant of everything around them. A smile crept upon my face as I contemplated seeing my girl within the hour...
2 days later, after a wistful goodbye to Amanda, back at the bus station, lo and behold. I see the same couple together. I watch him kiss her goodbye, with half a smile and half an anxious frown. As watches her walk away and she cranes her neck backward to get a last look of her Love (for quite some time I assume), I catch her attention and timidly wave. I'm sure she remembered me from a couple days ago, although she probably didn't know why I making the pilgrimage to New Orleans. Then again, maybe she did...
As I looked around, I thought, "You've got to be kidding me." In cinematic fashion, it seemed everyone around me on the Baton Rouge-bound bus was a couple kissing goodbye and gazing into each other eyes. It was probably only 3 or 4 couples, but I suddenly felt I knew these people, I knew their stories as if they were my own. I felt that same desperation...all of us were leaving thinking about the next time we would be in New Orleans. (And believe me, taking the Greyhound bus is a sign of being desperate. haha) And then there's the long ride home, carrying the emotional bottle of experiences, of memories...stored up till next time. All I know is that although I would have planned this differently...the term "long-distance relationship" is losing the negative connotation it once had. This period of my life is being used by God to sharpen me in many ways. And the distance that separates the one I love has matured my initial giddy feeling into one of committment and dedication that is more intense than any feeling I have ever known.