Odysseus and Penelope. Abélard and Héloïse. For centuries, stories of lovers kept at a distance have figured in history and literature. Here are ways to keep your own remote loved one a heartbeat away.

Employ the Surprise Note

Just before Regan Kelly’s fiancé, Victor Deal, shipped out to Iraq for his tour of duty with the Air Force, he planted notes and surprises all around her Los Angeles home, to be discovered while he was away. “He put one of his T-shirts on his pillow in the bed, with a note on it that said, ‘This is the first night you won’t have me to sleep next to. I’ll be back — you have that in writing,’” says Kelly. “He also left notes in a plastic Easter egg and in my jewelry box, and a spa gift certificate taped to the back of the television, which he told me about on the phone when I was having a rough day. He says there are even more surprises, but I haven’t found them yet. Every time I find one, it reminds me of his love.”

Other Ideas

Send your partner a custom-made photo calendar, with each month featuring a different image of the two of you together at one of your favorite places or celebrating a holiday that lands in that month. Highlight special occasions — your anniversary, your children’s birthdays — and mark the dates you have planned to spend together.

Create a sound track for your lover’s life with a collection of mix CDs tailored to different activities: driving to work, cooking dinner, or spending an afternoon reading.

Write an old-fashioned paper letter, and include souvenirs from experiences you would have shared had you been in the same place: playbills, photo-booth pictures, and concert-ticket stubs.

If writing letters is already a part of your repertoire, keep copies of all your correspondence with a long-distance lover — the letters and cards you’ve sent and those you’ve received — and paste them into a book to document the history of your love.

Send plant cuttings or half the seeds from a packet, then trade notes and photos as your gardens grow. While a plant is no stand-in for a partner, it’s nice showering attention on a living thing, which is a vivid metaphor for keeping a relationship in bloom.

Simulate the feeling of a face-to-face conversation by setting up your own personal video-conferencing system. Purchase a webcam (like Apple’s iSight), install conferencing software (like Apple’s iChat AV), and start getting your lover’s stories in living color — with hand gestures, smiles, and all.

Make a first-aid kit for your loved one to address all the minor crises that may come up while you’re gone. If you know he can never figure out how to work the DVD player, leave him a detailed list of instructions when you go away. Or if she loves your chicken-noodle soup whenever she gets a cold, make a couple of batches before you leave and stash them in the freezer.