"I'm moving to Houston."

As the words left his mouth, I felt the major bummer coming on. I liked this guy a lot and long-distance sounded awful. I didn't see how it was going to work.

But work it did for about a year. My car tires practically wore a groove in the road between Austin and Houston (before I made my move north). I missed seeing him on a random Tuesday night, but the distance thing wasn't really so bad.

Of course, he dumped my ass at the end of that year, but that's another column entirely, isn't it?

Anyway, the thing about LD dating (not to be confused with "LDS dating," which involves Mormons) is that while it kind of stinks, it has its charms, too. I was always on my best behavior when I saw Mr. BF. My legs were shaved, my bed was made, the litter box was scooped.

That's also what makes it a tad unrealistic. We all need to see our partners looking like holy hell with a hangover from time to time. It's real.

When Leah Battle was 22, she moved to Dallas while her Mr. BF stayed in Missouri. The result? Not pretty.

"About a month or so after I moved, he just stopped talking to me – jerkwad," she says. "Then I heard it through the grapevine that he was hooking up with some huge skank, so I called him, confronted him and we broke up."

For Jackye Stephens, 32, and her LD boyfriend in Portland, Ore., out-of-sight did not mean out-of-mind. Quite the opposite. Between cellphone and web cam, she was overwhelmed.

"It became too much after a while," she says. "I liked that I had my independence, but I didn't like how I couldn't be firm and stand up to him, and his need to always be online with me. I was suffocating and we weren't even in the same state."

A happier tale comes from Michelle Schell, who met her now-husband on LiveJournal when she was living in Florida.

"The biggest challenge was getting to see one another," she says. "Luckily, we visited often and I became a regular at the Tampa and Dallas airports. Over time, the distance became too much of a heartache and eventually we discussed living together."

Not surprisingly, and sweetly put, she's a fan of the LD dating.

"I'd do it again. No hesitations, because he is the best thing in my life."

Awww. Nice.

Leah failed to mention that people should avoid LSD dating at all costs. E-mail her at lashafer@gmail.com.