About this quote

Healthy relationships require physical boundaries to survive the friction of daily life. Love is easy when you do not have to argue over who left the milk out or who gets the remote control. Can you actually enjoy your relatives when you are constantly stepping on each other's toes? Distance provides the breathing room that turns obligation into genuine affection. Phone calls are sweet; shared bathrooms are a battlefield.

When to use it

• After three days of listening to my uncle's political rants and my mom critiquing my hair, I boarded my flight home. I love them dearly, but I need my own quiet apartment to keep loving them.
• My spouse wanted to buy a house on the same street as my in-laws, but I insisted we look at neighborhoods at least forty minutes away. A little buffer zone keeps our Sunday dinners pleasant instead of suffocating.
• When my sister called to gossip from three states away, we laughed for an hour. If she lived next door, we would probably be fighting over lawnmowers.