Beach Valentines: long distance young love
When Jordan Dobler was in 7th grade, she attended the wrong English class. Even though the lesson wasn’t right for her she had found something else that was: Alec Amescua.
Jordan and Alec have been together nearly four years. Photos courtesy Jordan Dobler
“That’s when I first saw her,” said Alec, now a high school junior. “She was the most beautiful girl I had seen and I knew that I liked her a lot.”
Soon the two were torn apart.
“She switched out of the class, which really made my heart sink,” said Alec. “So, we naturally didn’t talk much after that for awhile, but all of a sudden awhile later she got my phone number from a mutual friend and we started talking more, which grew into a relationship.”
A year later, Alec’s dad received a promotion in the Coast Guard and the family moved nine hours away to Petaluma, California. Still, the pair kept talking and decided to stay together.
“We realized that there was no way we could break up,” Jordan said.
Jordan, a junior at Redondo Union High School, is on the Varsity Cheer team and busy with a full day of classes and volunteer work. She spends most weekend evenings cheering for the football and basketball games. When she comes home, she almost always turns on Skype and talks to Alec.
“We text every day,” said Jordan. “If we’re lucky we get to see each other once a month.”
“Thank God for Skype,” Alec said.
The pair work as much as possible and save up money to fly back and fourth from each other’s homes. For the past two years, Alec has accompanied Jordan to her homecoming dance.
“I babysit as often as I can, and do little random things that I can earn money from, and save all the money that I can from birthdays and everything,” said Jordan. “Plus, I save whatever money my parents give me for chores and stuff. I literally do not spend it on anything else.”
Her aunt Shelley also helps her pay for flights, and sometimes Alec’s family drives down to visit their old friends and Alec gets a ride down to see Jordan.
“Our parents are very supportive of our relationship and may even like it better that they don’t have to worry about watching us all the time,” said Jordan. “Being in a long-distance relationship is very hard, especially after almost four years of it. It doesn’t get any easier to say goodbye, and it’s hard to have one of the people that you love most so far away from you.”
Alec sees the drawbacks of being in a long-distance relationship, but it has helped him realize all of the luxuries to have a loved one nearby.
“Long-distance is not something that makes life any easier,” said Alec. “I don’t get to hold my girlfriend’s hand walking down the hallway, or hang our after school, or do lots of stuff together all the time.”
He thinks that being a long-distance relationship has helped them stay together at such a young age.
“Who knows what would have happened if I didn’t move away,” said Alec.
“We had to become really mature very fast,” said Jordan. “We have a very serious, serious relationship and wouldn’t give it up for anything. Even though it’s really sad to say goodbye and we miss each other a lot, it is still not as bad as it would be to not be together at all.”
After they graduate from high school, they plan to attend college together. Alec is also hoping to move in with an old friend and find a job in Redondo for his senior year.
“We’ve built up so much trust and have a really strong relationship,” said Alec. “We know each other so well and are so deeply in love that there’s nothing that we would let come between us.”
Jordan thinks their young relationship is unique.
“Some people may think that it is just a little kid relationship,” Jordan said. “But anybody and everybody that has seen us or even gotten to know us at all [feels] we are meant to be together forever. We really are that couple that is one in a million.”
This is the fifth in a series of love stories running through Valentine’s Day.
Previously: Beach Valentines: love never lost
Beach Valentines: love around the world
Beach Valentines: music and mischief
Beach Valentines: working love