Joseph and Liz Stevens are happily married. They have two children But they live in different states in the U.S. Joseph lives in Illinois,and Liz lives with the children,Ben and Judy,in Indiana Their homes are 336 miles (about 540 km) apart. Joseph and Liz do not see each other every week,but they talk on the phone every day
Joseph and Liz got married 20 years ago.For most of their marriage,they lived together indiana.Liz worked for university near their home,and Joseph worked for an airline company. But Joseph's company moved to IIIinois about four years ago, joseph went with it.Liz didn't want to leave her job and move to IIIinois. The children,Ben and Judy, didin,t want to leave their school.So now the family lives apart.They see each other about five days every month.Joseph can fly free to visit his wife and children because he work for and airline.But the telephone calls are expensive! Sometime their telephone bill is U.S. $ 500 for one month.
Many married couples in the U.S., like the Steven,do not live together.In fact,about one million couples live part.Work is usually the reason.But it is not easy to have two homes .First of all ,it is very expensive.Second of all,it is sometimes lonely.Joseph says, " I often miss my wife and and children, but Ben and Judy are happy. They know we love them,so it doesn't matter where we live. " Joseph and Liz want to live together again when the children finish school.But one of them will need to get a new job.