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The song "Such Great Heights" has been done twice. The original version, by the postal service, is a bopping europop sounding romp with syntehsizers galore that makes me want to glow stick with my favorite girl in some blacklit club somewhere. The re-make, by little known solo group "Iron and Wine" is poignant and acoustic. The arrangement is simple, one guitar, one voice, letting the lyrics take on a whole new, deeper meaning. It's been on repeat on my iPod all afternoon, and you should give it a listen too.

"I am thinking it's a sign
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images
And when we kiss they're perfectly aligned.
I have to speculate
That god himself did make
Us into corresponding shapes
Like puzzle pieces from the clay.
True, it may seem like a stretch
But it's thoughts like this that catch
My troubled head
When you're away
When I am missing you to death."

Long distance relationships are tough. I mean, with the crazy sexy cool innovations on the technological front, as shown to me by a recent friend, you're never really too far from your significant other. You can have phone sex, text sex, AIM sex, web cams, skype... you name it. Its not like we have to rekindle the dead art of letter writing (I wish!) or anything, but it's still a strain. You can't hug a computer, after all. Well, you can. But it would probably come off as weird. And it would probably feel pretty uncomfortable.

"They will see us waving from such great heights
Come down now, they'll say.
But everything looks perfect from far away.
Come down now.
But we'll stay."

And furthermore, there's never enough time. Usually it seems like we arrive in each other's company just long enough to fight and then the other person goes home, miserable. And as hard as it is to stand on the runway and watch her get into a plane after a too short weekend of fighting, it's five times harder to have the most perfect, romantic, wonderful weekend ever, and then watch her get on a plane. It makes a person so incredibly insanely sad.

"I tried my best to leave
This all on your machine
But the persistent beat
It sounded thin upon listening
And that frankly will not fly.
You'll hear the shrillest highs
And lowest lows
With windows down
And this is guiding you home."

Most people think long distance relationships can't work, and I am starting to believe the exact same thing. It's just too hard. If your heart isn't breaking to be away from the person, then you come to realize that maybe it's not as magical and perfect as you thought. And if your heart does break well... then your heart's broken and the whole experiment just seems a little pointless. Part of growing up is being in love enough to know that you have to make that move, because if you;re not in the same town breathingthe same air, then it almst feels like you can't breathe at all. I can do this. I can make this happen.

"Come down now. But we'll stay."

Download both versions. Dance to one in your underwear. And play the other as the plane takes off, and know it's your song.

Until Next TIme
-Ramona