My husband is in the Army. He's been gone for training for a month at this point and I'll get to see him in a couple more weeks, but last year he was in Iraq for 10 months, and while we were dating we lived in different states. Over the course of our relationship we've spent maybe 1/3 of it actually in the same place, so we're long distance pros!

I feel like it would be harder if he was different, but he's always been really committed to communicating with me a lot. We talk on the phone as much as we can, and text whenever we can't. I just stay busy with work and my family and friends while he's away, and then we plan really fun dates and getaways whenever we can to keep things exciting.

But yeah, in one word, commitment. We're committed to making it work no matter what. We focus on how much we love each other, and then we can deal with missing each other. Make the time you are together really count.

(I could write a book about this topic I think.)