# What's the longest you've been physically separated from an SO? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148 "2010-06-14T16:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/41 "2010-06-15T02:51:22Z")
It was suppose to be two weeks, but that pesky volcano over in Iceland kept Mr. Ujest and his Dad grounded there with family, in Germany, an extra week. We would communicate via me sending a txt to his cousin’s cell phone over there and letting me know at whose house he was at so I could call. (Cheaper for me to call then them.) BUT they would always just let him call from their cell phone to either my land line or my cell phone. It’s like $4 a minute or something for them to call us, compared to our ten cents a minute rate. And then the calls when three or four of them were polluted with bier were always a good time. Especially when I am at work. Damn Germans. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/42 "2010-06-15T04:38:01Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > **gaffa** , it’s funny you say that because performance anxiety after separation happens to us all the time, even when we’ve only been apart for a week! It’s a combination of extreme eagerness + nerves I suppose. This happens in my relationship as well when we hook up again for the first time. We’ve come to be amused by it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/43 "2010-06-15T04:46:32Z")
It kind of depends on what you mean by SO, in particular when someone goes from just casual dating to a serious relationship. Just a couple of months after I met my future wife, I went to Europe for two weeks without her. But that’s not how I answered the question. Since she moved into my house, we’ve not been apart for more that one week at time, so that’s how I answered. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/44 "2010-06-15T05:17:09Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > **gaffa** , it’s funny you say that because performance anxiety after separation happens to us all the time, even when we’ve only been apart for a week! It’s a combination of extreme eagerness + nerves I suppose. > [@Asimovian](#): > > This happens in my relationship as well when we hook up again for the first time. We’ve come to be amused by it. 🙂 Nice to know that I’m not alone. But it’s damned inconvenient to have a hydraulic failure when you really need it after weeks when it didn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/45 "2010-06-15T05:37:20Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Don’t know if this is off-topic, but has anyone else noticed that long separations have a negative impact on your sex life? I’m not talking about the obvious, but when you do _finally_ get together, performance anxiety can rear it’s ugly head? > > Some of it is doubtless age related (I’m 49), but common wisdom would make one believe that a six week separation would render me as rampant as a seventeen year old. > > Anyone else having performance issues after the long wait? Yes, it can. Not only is there performance anxiety but you’ve gotten accustomed to satisfying yourself in a certain way, and then even when you really want to stick in the lotus flower the sensations and lead-up are different and you don’t respond physically. Sometimes it’s best to put it off a day. It takes the pressure off. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/46 "2010-06-15T09:29:27Z")
Navy wife =) I think in the 19 years of marriage, we actually spent about 10 years together and the rest mrAru was at sea or deployed to some shipyard for ship repairs. Longest was 14 months each at 2 different shipyards on 2 different boats. 8 6 month cruises, 8 or 10 3 month cruises and innumerable shorter cruises. A couple several month schools and several shorter schools. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/47 "2010-06-15T12:09:21Z")
I used to date/be engaged to a man who lived 3 hours away. It was fine when I was unemployed, but once school started again for the semester, I didn’t see him nearly as much. Until he moved in with me. Then we fell apart. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/48 "2010-06-15T14:27:12Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Meaning no job, and a month-to-month lease, and not a ton of other infrastructure. (Everything he owned would have fit in a cargo van if it hadn’t been for the huge-ass bookshelves, and we packed it all up in a morning.) I was gonna ask about that. 'Cause no way would it work for the boyfriend and me–we both have very non-mobile jobs at the moment, apartment leases, etc. We’ll avoid that bridge when we come to it, I’m sure, but one of us moving is looking to be at least a year down the road. > [@Superhal](#): > > My wife goes on yearly trips to visit her parents, usually 2-3 weeks long. I usually don’t go. I think she misses me more than I miss her. Well, you have your home to yourself. She has… her parents. Ulp. ---
**Author:** ![drillrod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@drillrod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drillrod)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/49 "2010-06-15T14:37:23Z")
I’m in the Army, so we’ve spent upwards of seven months apart with lots of trips in the 6-8 week range along the way, too. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/50 "2010-06-15T15:40:42Z")
6 months. I studied abroad in Australia just as he’d made the decision to transfer to my university. (Yeah, the timing was awful.) It sucked - definitely more for him than for me. Phone calls and emails are really no good replacement. We’ve been married now for 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148/51 "2010-06-15T19:53:07Z")
A lifetime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-youve-been-physically-separated-from-an-so/543148.md?page=2)