Staying in Touch

Lovers

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 love 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."