Make A Love Board To Keep You Connected

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When your loved one is far away and communication is rugged at best it's easy to feel a strain in the relationship. You are at home taking care of all the problems, getting calls that are all business from the other side of the world. Water heaters need to be replaced, the brakes need repair, you need to mind the finances. Even when you are communicating often it can still be pretty unfulfilling.

It's way too easy to let the distance, lack of communication and resentment start to build up. I am sure I am not alone when I say it's easy to start believing that there is no way your relationship will last the deployment or beyond. It's doesn't take much for those negative feelings to creep in and for you to start forgetting about all the great reasons you have to celebrate your love, your other half and your future.

I came up with an idea a few months ago that has made a world of difference for me in how I stay connected to Mr. Hart, our love, our life, our history and our future. I created a Love Board. I put a small bulletin board on the wall in my bathroom right next to the vanity. This is somewhere I spend time every day, so it's a great spot with high visibility and yet still very private.

On this bulletin board I started pinning up things that remind me of his love for me. He is not a big love note writer, but when I started looking I realized I had a lot more than I thought. Here are the things on my love board:

• The card from last year's Valentine's flowers when he was on the opposite coast in training
• The note he left with the first gift he ever gave me
• A poem he wrote me the week we met years ago
• A couple of charming emails
• A string of beads from our New Year 2013 celebrations when he was here on R and R
• A bracelet he bought me on vacation last year
• A couple of dried roses from a bouquet he sent
• My favorite "cute couple" photos
• The deeply heartfelt "in case I never see you again you need to know" text he sent me just before take off for deployment
• The first key he gave me to his place years ago
• Postcards & notes from deployment

I've added to my board little by little over time. Every time I see it, it reminds me that he loves me and has shown it for a long time. That we are solid, that we are strong, that we love, that we can make it, that we can  have a wonderful future together.

My Love Board is really one of the most powerful ways I have stayed connected to him during this long separation. If your loved one is gone a lot, you might like having a Love Board too. It sure helps keep the over-thinking, crazy lady behavior under control. haha. It's a great blessing to keep you strong and steady each day, focused on what's most important and what really matters to you.

Do you have a love board or something like that which keeps you connected to what's most important? I'd love to hear about it. Leave a comment below. I always like hearing from you.