Mentor Blog #3

As I met with Mr. Petricca two weeks ago, I spent time catching up in our personal lives as it had been about five weeks since we'd seen each other. He asked about my swimming and how that went, what my plans for the summer were looking like, and future plans with my boyfriend, now fiancé. I'll be working in Switzerland for 12 weeks this summer and there is a 7 hour difference between where Cameron, the fiancé, will be in Texas with his intern job, and mine. He gave me some great insight with balancing a relationship with a real job in the summer and somewhat putting the experience into a box of experiences and emphasizing the reality of the first few years when he'll be in school and I'll be working paying off debts and putting Cameron through school.
I brought this up as last summer it was easy for us to handle a 7 hour difference when I was in Spain taking two classes and done by noon, but this situation will be where I work from 9am-5pm while  Cameron will be working as a dental intern this summer during similar hours. Last year we were able to chit chat later in my day around 2/3pm because it was during siesta time (nap/hang out) and it would be 9/10pm his time and at the end of the day.
I guess I just wanted to know if I'd handle this incorrectly as I do need communication to feel theres the connection there and even though I don't see Cameron more than an hour 1/2 every other day until the weekend...we can still talk some times through text during the day. That won't be possible with jobs, as long as we want to be productive and efficient as we should be. Mr. Petricca essentially told me that it will be more difficult than "real life" after college if we follow the directions we want. I'm wanting to hold a part-time swim coach position (hrs 5-7am) and work full-time in business (hopefully 9-5pm) The reality of Cameron going through dental school at the time would be that he has classes and comes home with homework. While this summer might be harder than previous in terms of communication and actually getting to talk to each other rather than playing tag with texts, it'll make us appreciate our life after college. As he said it can go into a box of experiences that we can reference that make us appreciate where we are in the present and look back at what was difficult and how we managed that. That goes for any difficulties in life that stretch and grow us into who we are.  He raved about how most Wheaton students will have a much easier time after college. For me, he said with balancing 18hours for 3 semesters in a row, 25hrs of time committed to swimming (including some meeting times and excluding weekends with meets), having a part-time job and maintaining relationships...after college it'll be work, friends, less than 25hrs of time put toward exercise and a spouse. To that he said, "How easy is that?!"
Though this might not be applicable to others, I thought it would be helpful for those in serious relationships that have to manage long distances and more so as we pick up jobs in the summer and have to be present with families we are with and maintaining friendships.

Thanks for reading! I know it was long.

Brooke