All relationships have their challenges, but a long distance relationship can be a real b-tch when it comes to sexual satisfaction.
When you're in an LDR, you can't even end the night turnt up in some hot sticky butt-naked revelry. Instead, you're more likely to be sulking and hoping a FaceTime episode with his eggplant will be enough to get you off.
I told myself I'd never entertain even the thought of a long-distance relationship ever again after two failed attempts left me heartbroken, bitter, and thirsty for the D like a vampire for blood. It was all too stressful, and I hated that my man wasn't close enough for me to just pop up on.
Well, never say never. I recently fell madly in love with the man of my dreams---a patient, caring, ambitious, God-fearing superhuman who lives almost 2,000 miles away.
At first, I was apprehensive in continuing the relationship since ridiculously passionate and conveniently frequent experiences of intimacy for me---a woman with the libido of a teenage boy---had become a make-or-break factor. I wanted $15 Uber-ride d*ck, not schlong that would cost me a $400+ plane ticket.
Long distance sex requires quite a bit more maturity, trust, and creativity. Here are a few tricks and tips that can help spice up your long-distance sex life beyond the usual. (Hey, I love my man enough to try some new ish):
RATED G: Wearable Tech
Little lifesavers in the form of gadgets that can be worn as accessories can be both convenient and discreet in your plight to get your LDR groove on. (Or they can at least give you both a good laugh at their slightly creepy nature.) Try the HEY bracelet, which you and your man can wear daily to send sensations that mimic one another's touch.
Pillow Talk, a wristband that both you and bae can wear, has heart sensors that allow you to hear one another's heartbeat via a synced speaker that you can slip right under your pillows. I'm a big fan of this option, because, horny toad that I am, I love that I can listen to bae's heartbeat not when he's sleeping but when he's about to come during a virtual sex session. I mean, what better way to detect whether he's faking a cyber nut than using this bad boy? Hey, at least I can go to bed knowing my man's really satisfied---and reassure the psycho girlfriend in my head that he's not dipping out with some more readily available weekend chick with the fabulous hair and body of SZA.
Rated R: Digital Role Play
I love digital role play because it adds an element of surprise and intrigue---and it's definitely not for the insecure or shy. When your love calls you, choose a sexy alter ego and get into it. Think up creative scenarios like an erotic prank call or a forbidden encounter with the person of their deepest fantasies.
Handle it like you're filming or creating your own version of 50 Shades and keep the narrative going for as long as you two want. My bae knows I'm a coy storyteller who loves sneaky fun, so he stays on ready when I hit his phone acting like a secret admirer from his Facebook page, or when I show up on a Whats App video call wearing pum-pum shorts and a see-through tank, bending 6:30 to a Vybz Kartel hit like a true dancehall queen.
Rated X: Interactive Toy Sexperience
When I say interactive toy sexperience, I'm not talking about your usual sex toy + Skype technique. This bad boy takes things up notch. In Kiiroo's Onyx + Pearl combo, the Pearl2 can be controlled by your man via an app, and the Onyx2 allows your man to get his own pleasure at up to 140 strokes per minute. You both can enjoy a high-tech sexscapade in real time, and, bonus, the company offers options for LGBT.
Bae and I like to be extra, so we'd pair these toys with a naughty dice, card, or board game like Monogamy where each of us follows the instructions but uses the toys in place of the real thing (when applicable.) I like to add incentives and a bit of competition to the deal so that the victor can cash in mid-air on a flight or in the car on the way home from the airport.
Sometimes, he's been waiting a few months to get some real-life booty, so why not?
What's your favorite way to keep the spice in your LDR?
Featured image by Giphy
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While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Fortunately, five simple words have simplified my dating process and ushered in clarity faster: “Would my husband do this?”
A couple of years ago, I met an entertainment lawyer who was tonguing down a twenty-something-year-old woman for breakfast while I slurped my green smoothie and chomped on a flatbread sandwich. Okay, Black love, I grinned and thought as I sauntered out of the Joe & The Juice. As soon as I stepped down from the front door, a torrential downpour of Miami summer rain cascaded and throttled me back inside to wait out the storm.
I grabbed a hot green tea and vacillated between peering out the wet door and anxiously checking my watch. My lengthy agenda started with attending the Tabitha Brown and Chance Brown’s “Black Love” panel, and I was already late. That’s when the lawyer introduced himself to me, after he made a joke about neither one of us wanting to get soaked by the rain. His female companion had braved the storm, leaving us to find our commonalities.
We both lived in L.A. and had traveled to the American Black Film Festival to expand our network. He represented various artists, including entertainment writers, while I was working as a writer/creative producer in Hollywood.
While there is no shortage of internet advice on how to strategically meet a prominent man at conferences, if I spend my hard-earned funds on career growth, I have tunnel vision, and that doesn’t include finding Mr. Right. So, I stowed his contact details away as strictly professional.
Keep It Cute Love And Hip Hop GIFGiphyAs the humidity and mosquitoes were rising around L.A., two months later, another suitor-turned-terrible match cooled off after three unimpressive dates and a bevy of red flags. I posted what some of my friends called a thirst trap, but it was really me wearing a black freakum jumpsuit with a plunging neckline to my friend’s 35th birthday soiree despite feeling oh, so unsexy and bloated on my cycle.
I’d been waiting to post a sassy caption and finally had the perfect picture to match: “You not asking for too much, you just asking the wrong MF.”
That’s when the entertainment lawyer swooped into my DMs and asked me to dinner. I was quite confused. Is he asking me on a date? Or is this professional? Common sense would’ve picked the former. Once it clicked that this would in fact be a date, I told my mentor, who’s been happily married for over twenty years and has often been a guiding light and has steered me away from the wrong men.
Upon telling him about how we met, he emphatically stated, “He ain’t it.” He followed up with a simple question, "You have to ask yourself: Would my husband do this? Would you tell others that you met your husband, tonguing down another woman, and later married him?"
Aint It No Way GIF by UFCGiphyOuch. The thought-provoking question cleared any haze. Prior to going out with the lawyer, the first thing I inquired about was the woman.
“You saw that?” He said, taken aback that I’d witnessed his steamy PDA. Surely, anyone with two open eyes peeped him caressing her backside as he kissed her in the middle of the coffee shop.
He brushed her off as a casual someone he’d gone on a couple of dates with but had since stopped talking to. He said he hadn’t been in a serious relationship in over three years. Though I was still doubtful, dating in L.A. is treacherous and ephemeral. Making it past three months is considered a rarity.
With my antennae alert, I dined with him at a cozy beachside steakhouse restaurant where we were serenaded by a live jazz band. I’d emphasized forming a platonic friendship first.
Break Up Friendship GIF by TLCGiphy“I’ll come to you,” he obliged. I liked that he had made me a priority by driving over 50 miles to see me. I also liked the effort he made to check in with me daily. But I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that he initiated on a professional pretense and then alley hooped through the back door on a romantic venture, which bombarded me with confusion.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my dating life, God is not the author of confusion; any man who brings confusion, rather than clarity, is simply not The One. It doesn’t matter how many boxes he checks–eventually, that confusion will manifest itself into bigger problems, in time.
After diving into deeper conversations on the phone, post our first dinner date, I quickly realized this man was indeed not The One for me. But I’m grateful for the valuable lesson I learned.
I don’t expect some unattainable fairytale of a husband; we all have our own flaws and conflict is inevitable, but after dating for two decades, through failure and success, I’ve realized that the person I ultimately marry must mirror the values I exert into the world. He must reciprocate kindness, patience, and respect. He must be quick to listen and slow to respond. He needs to be forgiving and trustworthy, practice healthy communication, and be a man of his word at the bare minimum.
If I’d had “Would my husband do this?” in my toolbox when I was dating and floundering in stagnant relationships, in my twenties, it would’ve saved me a lot of precious time. But now that I’m equipped with the reminder, it’s allowed me to ground myself in my non-negotiables and set/maintain the standard for the special person, I’ll one day say, “I do,” to.
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