Long Distance Relationships

This has been prompted by something CT said to me the other day, that I can't seem to get out of my head. "Well I get tired of everyone thinking we are just friends."

As many of you will know, myself and @Cave Troll are in a long distance relationship (LDR). We have been together for just over a year. We are currently separated by over 4000 miles, including the North Atlantic Ocean.
We met online here on 24th April 2018. I posted a thread asking for help with a sci-fi story idea I had. On the 25th April, an awesome guy came along and posted a comical idea.
We didn't speak privately to one another until June 4th 2018. Prior to that, I had spent a good 2 weeks or so telling myself not to say or do anything because I knew he lived far away, it would never work, etc etc. I'd seen him around the forum, and couldn't help but notice every post he made. Eventually, I posted a rather public interest in CT, and he liked my post. I then PM'd him with a small summary of things we had in common, and things evolved from there.
We both said from the start that something romantic would be nice, but if a friendship was born from it instead, that would be good too. Over a year later, here we are being sickeningly lovey dovey both privately and sometimes publicly, we have spent 8 days together 'in real life'. We will meet again for another 5 days this Christmas due to travel limitations. I have met his mum, and may meet his sister on my next visit. We've got 2 photos of us together so far, and I have created a few as well. We have counted the months together, and exchanged parcels with one another. We video chat on an ad hoc basis, and we shared most of December 2018 video calling everyday, as we opened advent calendars together.
After talking online nearly every day for over 9 months, and spending 8 days together in the flesh, I proposed to him and he accepted. We do have a plan for closing this damned distance between us, but it will take at least another 2 years yet.
With all that said, I am both astonished and infuriated to hear that our relationship is thought of as something casual and platonic. Yes, we are friends, but we are also a romantic couple who adore one another and plan to spend our lives in the same country, occupying the same physical location as well as getting married. Why? The reason is remarkably simple. We are in love and we are romantic!

For those who have ever wondered about LDR, ask yourself this. Are couples who are in the army, navy, marines etc still 'real romantic couples', or does the distance somehow make love irrelevant and nonexistent?
Just because we happened to meet for the first time online instead of face-to-face, why should that mean our relationship is any less real or any less loving than that of a close distance couple?

Spoiler

For those of you who may have wondered, I knew I wanted to marry him at about 7 weeks in, but I didn't say anything until 4 months in. I then waited until after we met, and I'd had even more time to think, before finally asking him to marry me on 1st March 2019.