When your partner goes to prison, naturally you want to do everything you can to make them feel comfortable, loved-- unforgotten. It can be hard to know what to do, how often, and how much. Concentrate on these four specific areas and you are on your way to mastering some crucial steps to succeeding in this life.

Take Care of Home- Keep your house in order by taking care of finances, setting a budget with prison expenses and sticking to it, being honest with your children about what's going on, having an emergency plan, and staying grounded.

Take Care of You- You can't take care of anyone else until you take care of yourself. Put a support system in place, take time to feel the loss, ask for help when you need it and decide you are going to be okay--no matter what.

Take Care of Him- His greatest fear is losing you. Minimize and lessen this fear by keeping him connected to the family. Decisions that affect the family need to be made as a family. Standard relationship rules still apply.

Take Care of the Relationship- There is no point to sticking around if you are not going to nurture the relationship. It's time to get back to basics. You are the embodiment of a love story filled with longing and angst. In many cases, communication is all you have and thus must be the crux of the relationship. Understand that everything you want to talk about might not need to be said. Remember the Department of Correction has already legally (or not) separated you, without a conscious effort to stay together, you risk becoming a part of that daunting statistic (85% of marriages do not survive incarceration). 

Living your life when your lover is locked up simply means knowing what you can and can not control and making the most of it.