<strong><span class="leadin">Q</span></strong><strong>Having just finished college, my girlfriend of more than one year is leaving to attend graduate school abroad. She says we&rsquo;ll write and call and that our relationship is strong enough to endure, but I still have my senior year to finish, and no money with which to visit her for holiday weekends. She is beautiful, smart and attracts energy in every room she enters. </strong></p><p>I believe she&rsquo;d stay true to me, but it doesn&rsquo;t stop me from thinking about every flirty guy who speaks to her and what must be on his mind. Should I be worried? Do we have a chance? Do long-distance relationships ever work? </p><p><em>&mdash; Long-Distance Doubter</em></p><p><strong><span class="leadin">A</span></strong>The short answers to your questions: 1) You obviously already are. 2) Most things have at least a chance, even if it&rsquo;s as minute as the possibility of Kourtney Kardashian&rsquo;s spawn growing up to be a Mensa member. 3) If by "work," you mean long-distance relationships survive the distance and the couple eventually gets married or stays together long-term, then the answer is rarely. But then again, by the same criteria, the majority of relationships in general don&rsquo;t last either.</p><p>My expanded input: No doubt your girlfriend is in for a tremendous life change. But she seems to at least want to try to maintain your relationship, while you&rsquo;re so focused on why it wouldn&rsquo;t work. If you truly "believe she&rsquo;d stay true" and you don&rsquo;t want to lose her, tell her you&rsquo;re as onboard as fully as she is to make this work. Then buy her a Web cam as a going-away present (along with one for yourself), download Skype and get fired up for some cross-continental cybersex. </p><p>And never underestimate the power of a heartfelt, handwritten letter. If you do break up, you&rsquo;ll know you gave it your best shot.</p><p>Finally, I detect more than a whiff of woe-is-me attitude in your letter, which certainly won&rsquo;t help the "absence makes the heart grow fonder" effect. Having a full, satisfying life on your own is a powerful aphrodisiac.</p><p><strong><span class="leadin">Q</span></strong><strong>I&rsquo;m a bachelorette living in the city and have been dating someone, whom I consider a serious boyfriend, for four months now. Recently "Fred" bought an iPhone and will not let it leave his side. We&rsquo;re both in our early 30s, but lately he&rsquo;s been furiously texting like an acne-prone teenager. </strong></p><p>It angers me to receive a text from him when he could have spent less time making a quick phone call. To me it seems disrespectful. And I&rsquo;ve grown tired of trying to decipher texting code. I don&rsquo;t want to come down on him like his mother, and I also don&rsquo;t want to seem old-fashioned or prudish. I just want my pre-iPhone boyfriend back. What should I do? </p><p><em>&mdash; Tired of Texting</em></p><p><strong><span class="leadin">A</span></strong>Like you, I&rsquo;m not very fond of texting, yet lately I&rsquo;ve found myself getting sucked into more and more ridiculous back-and-forth dialogues. </p><p>For many people, texting is one of those actions whose frequency over time seems to increase, not decrease. I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;re being old-fashioned, prudish or motherly, nor do I think his mad texting is meant as an outright display of disrespect. If he continues to do it knowing how much it bothers you, that&rsquo;s another story.</p><p>But I don&rsquo;t see anywhere in your letter that you&rsquo;ve actually tried to talk to him about the issue. So tell him to leave his beloved gadget in another room and sit down for a face-to-face discussion. If Fred and his overdeveloped thumbs don&rsquo;t get the message and the texts continue, then I&rsquo;d say your final course of action is to send him one of your own: U R texting way 2 much 4 me. We R over.