You love your job in New York, but you're in love with someone who lives in San Fransisco -- and he feels the same way about his job and city. Which one of you picks up everything and moves across the country?
Neither, perhaps. Increasingly, couples are opting for plane tickets over moving vans: USA Today reported this week that 3.5 Million married Americans are living apart.
With Skype providing free video chats, the "Kissinger" robot making a long-distance kiss a reality (you have to see this one to believe it), and pillows that glows and pulses with you lover's heartbeat, there seem to be more and more potential for people to maintain meaningful relationships with people who live far away (or at least invest in some really cool gadgets in the name of love).
As a favorite band of ours, Menage a Twang, points out in a song of theirs aptly titled "LDR," there are both advantages and disadvantages to long-distance dating: While it helps avoid conflict with your partner: "my mind has erased all those annoying little traits until all i can remember is your handsome face," and "there is very little fighting when your dates are all in writing," it also has its downsides: "no one here to help with the groceries, the rent or the high-speed Internet" and can lead someone to go the way of the song's protagonist, who confesses: "I've stopped shaving and started misbehaving."
The Frisky offers a variety of ways to avoid letting distance come between you and your partner -- and many of the tips on making love work long-distance can also be applied to maintaining healthy long-distance friendships, such as mixing up how you keep in touch (supplementing texting with snail mail, for example) and finding creative ways to show your friend they're on your mind. HelloGiggles suggests sending video postcards across coasts.
Would you ever be able to live in a different city or state from your partner? If you're in a long-distance romance or friendship, how do you two keep in touch? Submit your long distance stories below or tweet @HuffPostWomen with #DespiteDistance
WATCH: 'LDR'