Matt & Marsi
Matt & marsi
matt lives in denver, co & marsi lives in dallas, tx
Marsi Age 47 & Matt Age 54
Married 15 years
Arrangement: Long Distance Marriage
At first glance, Marsi and Matt are the most normal, aspirational, and beautiful couple you’d ever hope to meet. They’re each on their second marriage and found one another later in life. Together, they’ve blended their families and built what appears to be a healthy, happy 15-year relationship grounded in mutual trust, love, and companionship. There’s just one small detail they both had to agree to to make it work: they live in different states. Yep, it’s a long-distance marriage.
Marsi and Matt met in 2009 while both were living in Texas. They fell in love quickly, and the relationship moved fast. A year later, they were married. They blended their families, built a life in Dallas, and began planning for the future. They couldn’t have been happier. But in 2017, Matt was offered a career opportunity he couldn’t turn down. The only catch? It was in Denver.
Marsi stayed in Dallas to support her daughter and continue building her beauty and fashion business, which unexpectedly took off. Matt relocated to Colorado to advance his career and step into the role of provider. What began as a practical move soon became something deeper for both of them.
Matt quickly discovered how perfectly Denver fit his personality, values, and lifestyle. At his core, he’s a mountain man — drawn to the rugged outdoors, hiking, camping, skiing, and the small-town, unpretentious energy of Colorado and its people. Meanwhile, Marsi has realized she’s a Dallas “big city” girl through and through. She thrives in the scene. She loves getting dressed up, attending social events, hosting parties, networking, and being in the middle of a bustling, high-energy city. In other words, each location perfectly serves what Matt and Marsi want and who they are.
Over time, they’ve arranged their lives to make this long-distance marriage work… but it doesn’t come without effort. The couple travels back and forth between Texas and Colorado every other week, carefully coordinating visits and planning their time together. They each maintain a home in both places: Matt has a modest condo in Denver, and Marsi owns a home in Dallas. They split their time between the two, and for the most part, it works.
The couple admits they spend nearly $50,000 a year on travel alone. They talk every day by phone, text, or video calls, and their arrangement has allowed them to “have their cake and eat it too”: staying committed to their marriage while still maintaining independence and living in the places that best meet their individual needs. But is it too good to be true? It might be.
TENSION POINTS
It’s not always sunshine and rainbows. Over the years, they’ve had their share of jealousy, resentment, insecurity, and loneliness. To manage these challenges, they entered couples counseling, and they still attend to this day. In therapy, they work through issues like communication, jealousy, insecurity, and the day-to-day reality of navigating a long-distance marriage. After years of living separately, the cracks in their “perfect” scenario are beginning to show, and the biggest one is resentment. Matt doesn’t want to give up his life in Colorado, and Marsi doesn’t want to give up hers in Dallas. Each resents that the other hasn’t caved and chosen to live full-time in the other person’s world.
Even their children have noticed. One of Marsi’s daughters has questioned whether this arrangement is truly sustainable, and when asked about the long-term future, neither Marsi nor Matt has a clear answer.
Matt believes he can’t leave his Colorado job because comparable opportunities don’t exist elsewhere. Marsi isn’t convinced. She believes he could find work in Dallas if he truly tried. That difference in belief keeps them stuck, not just physically apart, but emotionally misaligned. Because they aren’t in the same place, they aren’t always on the same page. And even more importantly, they’re not growing together as a couple. So is a long-distance marriage an arrangement that’s too good to be true… or will it ultimately lead to the demise of their picture-perfect relationship?
POTENTIAL STORYLINES
Marsi’s oldest daughter is getting married this spring, which means there’s a lot to plan and a lot of pressure. Marsi will be full-tilt focused on her daughter and the wedding, but will that leave Matt feeling like an afterthought? And will all the talk of family and marriage become a major trigger for the couple, forcing them to confront what it really means to have a husband and wife living in the same place.
In an effort to finally start the conversation about living in the same city, Matt and Marsi begin dipping their toes into the housing market, touring homes, hiring realtors in both Dallas and Colorado, and imagining two very different futures. But committing to one place means choosing one life… and letting go of the other.
To show Marsi what life in Denver could look like, Matt introduces her to his friends and social circle, hoping she can start to envision a future in Colorado.
As tensions continue to escalate, we get a front-row view into their relationship cracks as they try to navigate this unconventional arrangement, unpack their resentment, and face hard truths in couples counseling.