This year, I was sent away for work for almost 3 months. That is a long time to be away from my Master! As the dates approached, I worried about the silly things - would He be able to come and visit? Would my roommate be nice? And ugh - a roommate! I knew it would be a big change from life at home.

The beginning was painful. Sleeping alone, knowing no one else there, working long hours, and not having my usual kinky comfort items with me (like the leather cuffs and collar). I tried anything I could to keep going but at the end of the day, I would call Sir and I was never in a good mood. I started developing a mantra: "I am doing this for my family. I am still in service to my family". Then I would take the next deep breath and take on the next hurdle of the day until it all began to bubble up once again.

As time passed and the work hours continued to be more than any sane person would ask for, I was finding it harder and harder to connect with Him on the phone. I couldn't wait for the one day a week I would get to see him - but I didn't want to wait for us to really connect only once a week. I wanted to continue to feel and live my submission. No wonder I was cranky!

I went back to basics. You see, when we first started exploring together, Sir programmed a daily task into the calendar on my phone. It was only two words: check-in. He programmed it at noon and one day, it popped up as I was eating lunch at home and I smiled and happily wrote a little profession of my submission to my Master. Between getting a new phone and all the changes that have happened in our lives since this little task fell off my radar.

One early morning, as I sat at my desk about to begin another workday, I looked down at my phone and instead of simply saying "Good Morning", I wrote a little check-in, letting Him know that I was in service to Him today (and every day). This was the turning point. As each new day would begin, I would keep my routine. Around the same time the sun would start to wake up, I would sit at my desk and tell Master that I was His, every day a little differently but with the same intent.

He did tell me that He was loving the creativity and effort I was putting into these check-ins and how much they made Him smile. I guess I wasn't the only one who may have needed the connection and the reminder. To know that I made Him smile - that made my day! It was in going back to the very first thing that Sir had ever asked me to do that made the rest of the time away seem to move faster, be a little gentler, and made me more excited than ever to be home - in more obvious service.

Have you every been away from your Dominant? How do you stay connected to each other when you aren't sharing the same space?