I lived apart from my husband for 2 years after he got a job in a different state

A job offer in Spartanburg, South Carolina, required relocating while the other partner stayed in Washington, DC. Relocating together was not possible, so one partner moved and the other remained, expecting a future hybrid arrangement. The plan included buying a single-story fixer-upper near the new job, using a cheaper mortgage and relying on remote work and pet care logistics. The expectation was that time apart might strengthen the marriage and that the office-based role could become more flexible. After the move, the arrangement quickly fell apart, and the couple ultimately decided they would not repeat the experience.

"After months of job hunting, my husband had finally received a great offer, one that even came with a higher salary and title bump. The catch is that the role was based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, about seven hours from where we'd lived in Washington, DC, for the past decade. Relocating together was never on the table. I've loved living in the city since I moved there to attend grad school. I couldn't really see myself - or our nontraditional family with our six rescue pets - living anywhere else."

"So, we planned for him to move to South Carolina while I stayed in DC. We figured this arrangement would be somewhat temporary anyway. Although his new position was office-based, we both felt confident that a more hybrid arrangement could be worked out once he had established himself. I've always been very independent and outgoing, and I thought that maybe a little space and more chances to miss each other might strengthen our marriage. I also told myself that maybe living separately for a bit could be fun. I was wrong."

"To prepare for my husband's move, we had decided to buy a single-story house with a sprawling backyard near his job in South Carolina. It was an old fixer-upper that needed a lot of work, but the mortgage payment was cheaper than the rentals we were looking at. Plus, since I worked mostly remotely, we figured I could easily bring the dogs with me to stay there and just hire a cat sitter back in DC whenever I came to visit."

"It wasn't flexible with remote work as we'd hoped, so he'd drive 14 hours to visit me most weekends. After two years of living apart, he got a job in DC and moved back. We wouldn't do this again."

Read at Yahoo Life