My Boyfriend is going into the Royal Navy.

Today has started the process which I have known about since I was 16 but never quite realised how quickly it would come around.

Today my boyfriend has gone on his first set of training which is 3 days of intensive training. This isn't so bad, I can deal with 3 days of him being away. However, once he's finished that the next step is him being away for 10 weeks starting at the end of July. This is slightly harder to deal with...

Now I've never actually lived with my boyfriend, we both live in different cities and so have only ever really seen each other once a week anyway. This is hard, but i've dealt with it for a long time and we've made a system so that it works and we are happy.

Now that his 10 weeks of training is looming in about a months time, I am starting to feel a bit nervous about the whole thing.

I am completely and utterly proud of him is what I want to firstly make clear. He has wanted this since he was a little boy and not many people can say they are living their childhood dream job. He has done so well and I know he will be amazing once in the Royal Navy.

It's how 10 weeks being apart is going to affect both of us. We have already agreed that to make it easier, whilst he is away we won't FaceTime/Skype as seeing each others faces may make it harder. So we will talk just over the phone instead of Video Calling. It's been really important that we've both talked about this and set boundaries like only phone calls not video calls so that we are both on the same page.

We have also agreed that I won't move down to whereever he is based until I've got the current qualification I am studying for which is a Diploma in Retail Management Apprenticeship. This does mean I probably won't be able to live with him for about 2 years after he has got into the Royal Navy. However, I don't want it to be a problem that either of us feels like we are holding each other back. I feel like that is important, but again it's going to be really hard for both of us.

I've had episodes of crying and episodes of smiling over this and overall I am happy, also nervous and a little bit sad. Is that normal? I guess it is. I know no one who is going through this process currently and I do feel a little isolated because I have to explain to my friends what he is doing etc.

So I've written this in hope that I may get if anything some relief in writing how I feel about this process which has started now. Hopefully this all makes sense.

Misha x