what special things did you do to for your S.O. to help the distance?

I was interested in hearing what people did while enduring the distance - did you send snail mail love letters? daily emails? Care packages back and forth? unannounced visits?

Just curious what you did to stay close while so far away besides daily phone calls/emails.

We posted letters, packages, wrote emails, chatted on MSN and called one another a lot.  He would send me beautiful flowers twice a month, they would last for ages and everytime I saw them I thought of my UK man.

He used to send me cd compliations he'd made - even made nice covers for them with our pictures on.

He used to send me cd compliations he'd made - even made nice covers for them with our pictures on.

I forgot that my DH did the same, though without the nice covers.  It was great just the same.

He used to send me cd compliations he'd made - even made nice covers for them with our pictures on.

- that is so sweet!!!

emails every day, all day

calls every night

packages

letters

cards

cards in the suitcase when he left

he sent flowers

i sent him a i miss you letter on a puzzle and he had to put it together!

man, i did a ton of random stuff!

We emailed a few times a day. Phone calls, chat with web cam. When Frank would leave town he would always send me a post card from where he was and he would also call me from there. This is funny. One time he went to Great Yarmouth and sent a postcard. It got lost in the mail and actually caught up with me when I moved here about 6 months later. We had already gotten married by the time I received this postcard.
Even though Im happy we are together here in the UK , I really miss all those old romantic long distance relationship things. Once in awhile we will write each other an email or send texts.

Even though Im happy we are together here in the UK , I really miss all those old romantic long distance relationship things. Once in awhile we will write each other an email or send texts.

YES....i know this feeling welL!!!!!

Awwwww.  We used to send cards ALOT and write letters and talk on the phone EVERY Sunday night.  And surprise visits.   Surprise visits were the best. 

I suppose that everyone is different, because the time that Paul and I were apart, we didn't have that much contact, by mutual choice.  He'd send an email, a week or so later, I'd email back.  Daily communication would have driven us both batty!  We were apart for 6 months 1/2 way through our courtship and durring that time we only spoke on the phone after his Mum passed away and again just before he traveled to the states for a wee visit.  After our engagement (I was back in Scotland by then), I returned to the states to find work and plan the wedding, so we've emailed a little more often with wedding details, but no sappy love letters...I guess we are romantic in other ways.

Maybe it was better for us that way because prior to my return to the states, we'd never had any contact other than face to face (I didn't even have his email address until well into our relationship).  

Great thread . . .

I always leave a good morning message on his mobile the night before and he always leaves a good morning voice message on my mobile the day of (since he’s in the UK I’m in the US).   We send small surprise gifts to each other (silly things, like I broke a wine bottle stopper when I was over there so I had an engraved one sent to him).  We try to send lots of pictures/video clips via email whenever either of us goes somewhere (so the other one has a better sense of what we’re doing/where we’ve been).  It’s always nice getting an unexpected good ‘ol fashioned card.  And he’s the only boyfriend I’ve ever had who’s sent flowers to the office – I love it!

Steve sent flowers to the office too!!! Twice!! That was so impressive

We emailed constantly and spoke on the phone every day when I got home from work.  We chatted using our webcams occasionally (read:  when I looked decent enough!   ).  Always sent gifts for birthdays and Christmas and random cards and little gifts "just because".  We sent more letters before we started talking on the phone.  Our visits were fairly infrequent -- maybe five between 2001 and 2003.

Email daily, he usually telephoned me every night just before he went to bed, weekend chat 'dates' on ICQ, occasional letters through the post, he made me funny cards on the computer (like my face superimposed on a manatee, his on the Riggwelter beer sheep) & sent flowers two or three times.  After our first meeting, face to face, he wrote me a really nice (and well written, not just sappy) poem in French -- I was thoroughly impressed!  I wrote him a couple sappy poems in English.

The distance was very hard on me, but Steve took it more in stride.  Our longest separation was four months, and the shortest was two months -- but we only dated about a year before I moved here.  I don't think I could have withstood being apart much longer & still have stayed together as a couple.  It was just that we were each quite busy & pretty settled with our jobs & our lives, etc...the longer our separations were, the less 'connected' I would feel with him -- like for all intents & purposes, we really weren't a daily part of each other's lives (other than in the daily phone call).  I was probably just being negative, but it's how I felt -- hard to explain.

C

Even though Im happy we are together here in the UK , I really miss all those old romantic long distance relationship things. Once in awhile we will write each other an email or send texts.

Me, too 
I actually try to tell people not to rush the "courting" phase- I was so desperate for it to be over and for us to be together! In hindsight (of course hehe) I see just how much it is a precious time on it's own and never to be duplicated! We used to email, chat on ICQ and talk on the phone a lot (these were the pre onetel days, too and he really racked up those phone bills!)

I wouldn't trade being here the last 3.5 years but I now count the 2 years we had to be apart as a really important, lovely time now as well. It is part of our love story!