How Far is Too Far? Long Distance Love with Brooke and James Hamilton

Brooke Hamilton, writer of the blog A Girl and a Kiwi, is married to James Hamilton, retired New Zealand Olympic snowboarder

“I fell in love on Skype because it was pure communication, all you can do is talk and learn about each other.” Brooke Hamilton

How did a girl from Michigan and a guy from New Zealand end up happily married? Find out in episode number 36 of the Love Intently Podcast!

This week we are joined by Brooke and James Hamilton. Brooke is the writer of the popular blog A Girl and a Kiwi, where she shares her best New Zealand traveling itineraries and tips for saving money to travel, as well as DIY home improvement projects. James is a retired Olympic snowboarder turned home inspector and handyman, how cool is that?! Listening to them talk is magical because you can hear in their voices how in love and happy they are together, it is truly inspiring. We talk about the positives and negatives being in a long (really long) distance relationship, how they are still learning and growing in their marriage, the legalities of moving to a different country permanently, what love intently means to them, and more!

Brooke was only 17 years old when she was working at a ski resort where she'd been eagerly awaiting the olympic trainees to come...and so was every other girl in Michigan, apparently. James, a tall, handsome Olympic snowboarder with luscious blonde hair (swoon!), was just 20 when he came to the resort to train. Brooke describes their first meeting like the Bachelor, with tons of girls trying to get James' attention.

But James was, as he describes himself, shy and not good at talking to girls. With Brooke though, he felt instantly at home. There may have been tons of fresh pow pow on the ground but sparks were flying for these two. Thus began probably the LONGEST distance relationship you've ever heard of (all the way from New Zealand to Michigan!).

Nowadays, James loves his job as a home inspector and Brooke loves her job as a speech language pathologist. In their free time, you can find them traveling back to New Zealand to visit family, or working on DIY home improvement projects to fund their travels. Brooke also runs a creative blog called A Girl and a Kiwi, where she provides New Zealand travel itineraries, tips on saving money to travel, DIY projects, and more.

In this episode, Sophie, Brooke and James discuss:

The positives and negatives of being in a looooong distance relationship:

Brooke and James share the amount of time, money, and effort it took to immigrate James to America. But it was worth it!!

“I fell in love on Skype because it was pure communication, all you can do is talk and learn about each other.” Brooke Hamilton

How they are still learning and growing in their marriage:

“Admitting when you’re wrong, it sounds simple but it’s hard to do." -James Hamilton

"I’m learning to give him his space during an argument and he’ll come back to me when he’s ready. We’ll have a much more productive conversation if I let him do that." -Brooke Hamilton

What it really takes, logistically and emotionally, to legally bring a Kiwi over to the states permanently:

“It’s not so much about working past it, but working through it. There’s no getting through it faster, you just have to stay connected and go.” Brooke Hamilton

What loving intently means to them:

"Loving intently is putting the other person before yourself. Rather than saying what do i need from this person to make me happy...flip that around and say what can I do for this person, how can I make them happy." -James Hamilton

"We have to be very intentional in loving each other the way that we each feel loved. I go out of my way to bring him coffee in the morning because his love language is "acts of service", but that is the lowest one for me." -Brooke Hamilton