The afternoon of Boxing Day 2009 was the moment I met my husband. At 19 years old, I certainly had no idea that he would be my future partner, but a random conversation on Oniru Beach in Lagos, Nigeria changed my life forever. This chance encounter turned into an intercontinental friendship, and, fast forward six years, into a long distance relationship.

After being long distance for four years, I married this once stranger in 2019, and we were so excited to finally be able to start our lives together, for real. How naive we were. For years, we would fantasise and talk about how great life would be when married, enjoying the simple things in life, the things most couples take for granted, and only long distance couples would truly be able to understand. We were so fixated on closing the gap between us, that we left no room to wonder what kind of struggles we could potentially face when permanently together.