It was my birthday and my now-husband and I had been dating for about three months. When he got to my house, he wished me a happy birthday, then he apologized, “I’m sorry I didn’t get you a gift.” At the time, I was 31, had a good job, and could buy whatever I fancied,
Years ago, I got a call from a friend. “The most amazing thing happened,” she gushed, “we got engaged!” She proceeded to tell me about how her boyfriend proposed. They’re such a loving and compatible couple, I couldn’t have been happier for them. Days later, I saw the picture online, her finger encrusted with an
In my 20s, I fell in love with my partner’s ambition. His dream was to own a restaurant, and I admired his willingness to reject a traditional 9-to-5 to build something of his own. He entered the industry as a teenager, worked his way up to general manager at a local restaurant by his mid-20s,
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sarah Silbiger, a 30-year-old freelance video and photojournalist based in Philadelphia. The following has been edited for length and clarity. My partner and I are both journalists. We worked straight through the pandemic, and it was unrelenting. After covering such partisan politics, I really wanted to
Nine days into 2025, I stood at gate G7 in Amsterdam waiting to board my flight to Cape Verde to build a nomadic life on my own terms. A year and a half later, strangely enough, I’m still here. The temporary adventure turned into a life, complete with friends, routines, and a man who, after
Lindsey Hall, a Texas-based writer, suspected that the man she was dating was using artificial intelligence. Not knowing where things were going, she asked him directly what made him want to be with her. “You’re funny, smart, pretty,” she summed up her response. “The way it was written was very cold and formal and very
