Married but Living Far Apart

Many couples see living apart as a short-term solution to accommodate their careers, but sometimes it becomes a long-term arrangement. Patrick Donnelly, 50, and Alexandra Mascolo-David, 58, lived together in Mount Pleasant, Mich., when they married in 2000, but he moved away a year later for graduate school and she stayed. In the 19 years since, Mr. Donnelly’s career in arts administration has taken him from Pittsburgh (a six-hour drive from his wife) to Kalamazoo, Mich., (a two-hour drive) to Newark, Del., (a two-hour flight) and finally to Kansas City, Mo., (a two-hour flight plus a two-and-a-half-hour drive), where he has been for a decade.