Don't Forget to Write

Nurturing Long-Distance Relationships

By: Celine Todd
Published June 27, 2007

The challenges of long-distance relationships don’t just apply to star-crossed lovers living on opposite ends of the country. When you consider all of the junctures in your life that may cause you to relocate – college, meeting your spouse, changing jobs, and retirement, to name a few – chances are great that you currently have a long-distance relationship with at least one important person in your life.

While distance can certainly make the heart grow fonder, efforts to communicate and reach out to our loved ones will ensure that our hearts stay fond and our relationships stay close – no matter how many miles separate us physically.

Read on to discover some creative ways to nurture relationships with far-away friends and family. These stay-in-touch tips can make the distance between you melt away.

Work on a shared project.

If you and your sister enjoy crocheting, make a blanket together. Select yarn and a pattern, then take turns spending a week or two creating your shared blanket before trading off with your cohort in crochet. You’ll each look forward to the arrival of your work-in-progress, feeling a physical connection through a joint project.

Read a bedtime story.

Record yourself reading your favorite children’s book – possibly one that you used to read to your own child – and send the book and the recording to your long-distance grandchild. You can end the recording with a sweet-dreams message to a special child that you wish you could kiss goodnight.

Share a laugh.

Do you and your son share the same dry sense of humor? If you miss enjoying a good joke together, then start a weekly tradition of cutting out one great clipping – an article, a comic, or an unintentionally funny local news story – and sending it along to your son. Not only will you be able to share a good laugh, you’ll also be on a constant search for humor in your own life, which is a fun way to live.