How to Stay Close When You're Apart

One morning, my husband was trying one of those infomercial hair trimmers, and disaster ensued: He shaved one of his eyebrows clean off. He opted to go two for two rather than go about his day lopsided. When he walked downstairs, I knew something was different, but honestly, I love him so much I was actually blind to it (luckily they grew back). Since then, it's a running joke—"Notice anything different about me?" We send each other cards and photos of people, and draw giant caterpillar eyebrows on them. Of course, it's funny only to us.

We have a friend, a dancer, who would tell us how her teacher used to repeat like a drill sergeant, "Stay tucked and lifted" to get the class to tighten their core and stand straight. Yes, "tucked and lifted" sounds like a plastic surgery procedure, but somehow it's become our power mantra! If one of us is having a tough day, we send a "tucked and lifted" message to each other; we've printed the phrase on napkins, engraved it on a watch. Our insider shorthand means: We are strong, all is well, we are loved.