Dear Bubby,
Last July I met my boyfriend while we were both working in China. He is American, I am English. We now are in a long distance relationship. He just visited me for 10 days and left yesterday. I do not know what to do next.
During each of our visits, we have great happiness and our communication has really grown, but at times he grows very quiet. He says he feels sad, that he has doubts. Yet whenever I suggest perhaps the distance makes our relationship too difficult, he says he loves me and wants to make it work, he just doesn't know how.
He asked me to marry him soon after we met, but then said it was too soon. I know he brought an engagement ring with him on this trip, but he did not ask me to be with him and instead said he was sad and we needed to break up. Then he changed his mind the next day.
He is very loving towards me - the most gentle, kind, humanitarian man - and I adore him. Yet I have put my life on hold for him, taking time out of my doctoral studies and not taking promising jobs, because we had talked about us marrying and me moving to America to be with him. I don't know whether to break it off - if he isn't sure now when will he be? Should I be making my life plans without him, or just wait?
I am so sad and confused - I'd value your advice.
From,
Long distance love
Dear long distance love,
I had a similar experience when I was in college and I laughed about it. I told him that it would take me three more years to finish my studies and he said he would wait because I was the one for him. At the end of the three years we were married. During that time I would see him about once a month. We were in the same country but far apart.
If this young man really is in love with you and is planning to marry you, you should discuss it openly between you. If he hesitates, he either does not want to lose you or is still out on a limb and you should not wait for him. He has to grow up.
Marriage to me is a life long commitment. Moving to the states is not a big deal. I moved to NY after we were married, I met new friends and I was with my loving husband and friend. But you must be sure. I think the fact that he crossed the ocean to see you means he was trying to make up his mind and you should do that too -- see other young men to compare him.
Best of good luck. ♥, BUBBY
EMAIL this post...
0 OPINIONS ADDED
0 OPINIONS ADDED
"Help Me, Bubby!" Disclaimer
By submitting a letter to this website, you grant Help Me, Bubby! permission to publish it on this site or elsewhere
including print publications. Your letter will only include an anonymous signature that you provide or that we use to
substitute for your real name. Your email address will never be included or distributed. Due to the large number of
letters received, there is no guarantee that a letter will be responded to. Any information or advice given at
Help Me, Bubby! is not intended to provide an alternative to professional medical treatment or to replace the advice
or services of a physician or psychiatrist. Neither Bubby nor her granddaughters are professional therapists or medical
experts. If you have any serious medical or mental problem, please consult a professional. Although all this advice is
offered lovingly from the heart and in good spirit, we are not responsible in any way for your decision to accept or
reject the advice or the results thereafter.
Whether Bubby is reminding us that boyfriends do not substitute for warm jackets in the winter, or that it's
better to receive a compliment than a brick, she always has 
Hopefully this will be as much fun for new readers as it will surely be for her.
And if not, well, as Bubby says, it will all come out in the wash.
♥
Other Jewish Bloggers:
