Twitterpated curmudgeon seeks depictions of love

April 30, 2019 6:07 AM

About a month ago, I was lucky enough to have an amazing experience meeting and connecting with someone on a deep romantic level. However, this person doesn't live anywhere near me. We have kept in touch and text pretty much everyday and have mutually acknowledged that if we lived near each other we would be "a thing." I am of the idealist sort that would move mountains/jump on a plane to visit this person regularly, but the logical side of my brain is luckily well in control here and realizes that we are likely to never see each other again and this is just a fun "pen pal" that will likely fade away at some point. However! The silly romantic side of me would like to indulge in fantasy and would appreciate any recommendations of books/movies/songs/media that depict a situation similar to the above where the two people eventually do end up together. This is not my usual genre so feel free to suggest even the most obvious things (if spaceships are also involved, all the better!). Thank you for helping me channel my feelings!
posted by anonymous to Human Relations (15 answers total)

The Griffin and Sabine trilolgy.
posted by mcbeth at 6:11 AM on April 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

Continental Divide (a romantic comedy with John Belushi playing a character based on Mike Royko. I don’t actually remember if it’s any good — I haven’t seen it since it came out, and that’s a very very long time ago. But the plot is right what you want.)
posted by LizardBreath at 6:30 AM on April 30, 2019

The Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight trilogy - romantic initial meet and separation, ending up together and concluding with the often imperfect reality
posted by JonB at 6:33 AM on April 30, 2019 [9 favorites]

Going the Distance - Drew Barrymore and Justin Long.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:50 AM on April 30, 2019

There's a pair of characters like this in Death's End, the third part of the Cixin Liu's "Three-Body Problem" trilogy, though it's not a primary focus of the novel.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:16 AM on April 30, 2019

Galaxy Quest does have an against all odds, inter-species, love story as one of the plot lines.
posted by brookeb at 10:34 AM on April 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

And of course there's the classic An Affair to Remember.
posted by brookeb at 10:35 AM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Carol Shields' The Republic of Love. One of my favourite books.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:00 AM on April 30, 2019

David Mitchell talking about how he was in love with his now-wife Victoria Coren for years before the opportunity arose for them to date and (obviously) eventually marry.
posted by axiom at 11:49 AM on April 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

Sleepless in Seattle for the distance. You've Got Mail for the pen pal relationship.
posted by kochenta at 12:02 PM on April 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

Been there, done that. She in UK, me in US ten years ago. Us now happily married. Just do it.
posted by TheRaven at 12:13 PM on April 30, 2019 [8 favorites]

And I’m doing the middle-aged ridiculously long distance dating thing myself, and having a terrific time with it.
posted by LizardBreath at 12:23 PM on April 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

For this plus spaceships, maybe Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold?
posted by bananacabana at 9:42 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

The only story that will really scratch this itch is the one you can write by living it.
posted by automatronic at 6:35 AM on May 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

I can't help it: be a thing! be a thing! I had a similar discussion with someone twenty years ago -- we hit it off, we had a connection, we agreed that if we lived anywhere near each other we would date, but we also reluctantly agreed that long-distance relationships didn't work.

But we really wanted to see each other. Maybe we could just... visit? A little? I saw him again two months later, and two months after that, and after a couple of years of that we moved in together. We've been together for 18 years now.

Watch Before Sunrise, revel in pleasant romantic feelings... but check plane fares, too.

(I also second the recommendation for Shards of Honor, which has both long-distance attraction and spaceships.)
posted by kite at 11:10 AM on May 2, 2019