We’ve had to say goodbye again. This time, I also had to leave the home we’d just made together.
That’s the part of our K‑1 visa journey I want to write about. The home details I’ve been sharing mean so much to me because we were making a place for our life together. Leaving it, and leaving my fiancé, has been the hardest part of this chapter so far.
I’m Italian, he’s American, and our story began in Hawaii. Long distance has been a big part of our relationship. We’re working towards a life together in the US, and there is still a lot of waiting between here and there.
Where we are in our K‑1 visa journey
As of 29 October 2026, we’re still waiting for a USCIS decision. I wish I had a more exciting update to share.
It’s difficult to plan around something when you can’t put a reliable date beside it. There are the things we can decide together, like how we want our bedroom to feel. Then there’s the question sitting behind all those lovely little decisions: when will we actually get to be here together, every day?
I don’t have an answer yet. Having to leave while that question is still open is what makes the waiting feel so heavy.
We’d just made this house feel like us
If you’ve seen the little bedroom corner I shared, you’ll know the sort of things we’ve been putting together: the green wall, the warm bedding, the bedside lights. Small details that started becoming a room we could actually enjoy.
I loved getting to spend time in the home we were making. There was still plenty to do, but it was already ours. We didn’t have to finish every room for it to feel that way.
There’s a lot of affection in those choices. A place to end the day together. A corner for coffee. Somewhere to put the things we use. Apparently, there is also room for a quite unnecessary amount of thought about lamps.
That’s why leaving hurt so much. I’d been getting to enjoy the life we’re trying to build, in the space we’d been making for it. And then it was time for another goodbye.
We’d just made this house feel like us. Then I had to leave it.
Another goodbye, even when you know it’s coming
Knowing there will be a goodbye doesn’t make it easy when it arrives. We’ve done long distance before, and I still found this one incredibly sad.
I miss him. I miss being in our home together. I want more of those ordinary days we’d started making there, with all the little routines and unfinished jobs that come with them.
It’s hard to leave that behind while we wait for a decision about the next part. I can be grateful for the time we had and still wish, very much, that I hadn’t had to go.
Living through the time in between
I’ve written before that your life is happening between visits, too. I still believe that. I also know how difficult that advice can feel just after you’ve said goodbye.
I want to keep making plans, seeing people I love, and finding small things to look forward to where I am. Some days, that may feel easier than others. Missing him doesn’t come with a particularly convenient schedule.
For anyone in a similar chapter, I hope there’s a little comfort in hearing someone say that the good parts and the hard parts can happen together. You can be excited about your future and find the waiting exhausting. You can enjoy your day and still wish your person were there.
What I’m looking forward to
Espresso & Plot Twists has plenty of coffee, cozy corners and Italian observations. I want it to have room for this part of our story, too. The uncertainty is part of my life right now, even when a photograph only shows the pretty bedroom.
This is our experience of the K‑1 journey, and how it feels for me at this point in it. I’ll share more when we have an update.
For now, I’m looking forward to being back in the home we’ve made together. More ordinary mornings. More little decisions. More time beside the person I want to share all of it with.
One day, I hope making coffee together will be such a normal part of our life that I’ll forget how much I once wished for it.