How to Take the Distance Out of a Long Distance Relationship

No distance is too long for real love

When your lover lives far away, you may fall asleep with them on your mind but find yourself spooning with your own pillow in the morning. Here's how you and your partner can stay close to each other when your zip codes are not.

Instructions

My Personal Experiences as Steps to a Happy Long-Distance Relationship

1. 

   Find a mutual hobby that you will enjoy doing together. Using technology, you can simulate working together on fun projects, by working separately but using electronics to capture the event. Use the phone, digital voice recorder, web camera or take digital pictures to share together.
   If you both love photography, you can pick a theme each month and go on a digital scavenger hunt in your own hometowns. For example, my boyfriend belongs to a photography group that picks themes such as black and white, something blue, different shapes, and so forth. It is fun to see what the other person creates and this brings you closer to his or her world.
   Another example of an activity that we do together is to make Japanese bento-box food art. We started an online group where we shared our latest lunch art creations with others. Having other people to hang out with online gave us a chance to make mutual friends who share our common interests. There are plenty of groups to join where others share their cooking creations, artwork, photographs, herb gardening or various other hobbies and crafts. Using themes when you work together on a similar project really gets you both working together from the planning stages to the final execution.

2. 

   Create love letter boxes to keep your pictures, cards, letters and other mementos. Decorating the box together is half the fun. Fill it with your love letters and cards containing deep thoughts of why you love the other person and silly mementos you will find along your journey together. Then browse through the items when you are missing each other. Doing this will help you remember your love and the events that make your relationship so unique and wonderful.

3. 

   Plan and cook meals together on the weekends and have a movie night. My long-distance partner and I went to a bed and breakfast during one of our face-to-face meetings. At the B&B we were served the best scones in the world! We decided to make the scones together when we were back in our own kitchens. Mailing each other a sample of our baked goods gave us both a thrill when we opened our mailboxes later in the week.
   For Christmas we decided our theme would be nontraditional, so we celebrated the holiday with a Native American twist. We made Navajo fry bread tacos and watched the 500 Nations DVD series together. We each got the same DVD and synchronized our start times while talking on the phone. Be careful to rent the same version of movies. I will never forget watching Dances with Wolves, since I rented the 4-hour version and he got the 3-hour version. We made the best of it and still laugh about that experience.

4. 

   Have sensual moments together. Many days after work, my lover and I would take baths together. We would fill our tubs with scented water, light candles, play music or sing a personal song we wrote together. He would mail me the most fabulous Lush bath products for my tub. These Lush products are completely handmade, organic and can be found on Amazon.com. Some of the products have flower buds embedded in the bath melts and bath bombs which make your bath time so beautiful.
   He bought me a book on massage and we read our books to each other over the phone. We create fantasy scenarios where we talk together on the phone or webcam and take turns telling each other what is happening in the fantasy from our creative mind. In one fantasy we were in nature, completely open to each other and making love on a blanket by a running stream. Sensual moments are a fun and necessary part of a loving adult relationship; yet a healthy relationship needs balance where love is shared in a variety of ways.

5. 

   Meet up with each other in your respective hometown as often as permissible. We got together every couple of months and this gave us the opportunity to meet our partners family, co-workers and friends. My partner lived near the Rocky Mountains and I live near the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was great fun hosting him in my city and showing him all of my favorite recreation spots. I also loved seeing his area and home. Today, my partner is packing his things and will be moving to live with me. We took our time to allow our love to deepen and discover our long-term compatibility. The long-distance experience is one we will treasure for the remainder of our days. Still, I'm really looking forward to spooning with him every morning--not my pillow.