*hugs* Oh honey I completely understand where you're coming from and I'm sorry you have to go through all that

My hubby and I met playing Everquest almost 11 years ago.. I was 17, he was 19, I was in Singapore and he was in Las Vegas (yucky 16 hr time difference!). I was still in college, he was working front desk at a casino and barely making enough to support himself and it seemed... absolutely, 100% insurmountable that we would even figure out a way for our relationship to work, let alone get married! Ugh I shudder to even think of it lol, this was before Skype and all those awesome low-rate VoIP calls so we weren't even able to talk on the phone very much lest we ran up crazy phonebills we couldn't afford, and didn't see each other for more than a year at a time. I'm so envious you even had the chance to spend 4 months with your fiance, that must have been wonderful!
Fast forward more than a decade later, we've now been married a little over 3 years

We had a civil ceremony first because we couldn't afford anything else, then saved towards a more elaborate ceremony on our 1-yr anniversary. Prior to that, I can completely commiserate with the pain of leaving, i would begin crying and being miserable from 2-3 days before we would separate again - pretty crappy given we'd usually only be able to afford to spend 2 weeks at most with each other every year or so! But you know what? It gives you something to look forward to and to work towards, and just *knowing* you have that someone at the other end waiting for you and loving you makes it a little easier to bear. Plus, you have to figure - when you two reach the end of this "waiting game" road, you've already overcome a HUGE obstacle, and all the other little bumps in the road that is a long-term relationship will be tiny and laughable in comparison!

You
can do this - and it'll be completely worth it in the end! Congratulations on your engagement - just try to remember a year is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to having the rest of your lives to spend together. I know it's hard but time will fly by once you get home and settle back into the swing of everyday life... you'll see each other again soon!
PS. Bleh it's so ironic I was able to overcome all those r'ship obstacles but I can't seem to lose weight.. everytime I reach 210ish I freak out and binge myself back up several pounds. -kicks self- /endrant