Being away from your sweetheart, I mean hundreds of miles apart, is tough.
You might be three time zones away from your sweetheart, like my friend Luis faces this week. Or maybe you’re in a long-distance relationship, something I lived through in high school and college.
Those first few days of separation are difficult. You miss being close, long to reach out and touch, lean over and give your sweetheart a hug, share a thought in a glance.
Mikki and Tyson developed a long-distance relationship. During visits, their lives would begin blending into couple’s routines, which can only be experienced when you share time and space. When visits ended, the initial days apart seemed to exaggerate the distance separating them.
During one visit, Mikki hid a briefcase filled with envelopes she’d brought with her.
Three days after returning home, Mikki texted Tyson. “Go move your tripods and look under your side table.”
Imagine the look on Tyson’s face and the thoughts flooding his mind when he found the briefcase and opened it. He’d discovered a treasure chest of envelopes designed to contract the miles of separation.
Each envelope contained an instruction for opening:
- Open when you’re having a bad day;
- Open when you’re feeling nostalgic;
- Open when you’re not feeling well;
- Open when you’re feeling frisky.
The notes weren’t eloquent. None would have received an “A” in English class. Yet each handwritten message embodied a piece of Mikki’s heart. Each romanced Tyson.
What a way to keep Romance Alive across the miles when you and your sweetheart are separated.
Being romantic doesn’t require you to be elaborate or majestic. Romance doesn’t require expenditures maxing out your credit card.
Simple, unexpected gestures expressing affection and creating a shared memory, like a collection of notes, can create that Romantic Interlude.
Have you experienced separation from your sweetheart? How did you shrink the miles/kilometers? Robert
