Tiny Love Stories: “He said we missed ‘the magic’”

Modern love in miniature, with reader-submitted stories of up to 100 words.

Finally finding “the magic”

Since my childhood, I yearned for love. I once got there a few weeks after my wedding before it suddenly fell apart. He said we were missing “the magic” and, of course, he was right. A few men came and went. I am now 59 years old and have stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. I still don't have a partner, but I have fallen desperately in love with life. Exquisite beauty emerges everywhere: my cat on my lap, a cashier giving me an unexpected smile, sunlight streaming across a lake. I use each day to soak in the splendor of the world. “Not yet,” I whisper to the sky. “I really like it here.” — Clare Cory

ImageMy 59th birthday surrounded by magnificence at South Mountain Park and Preserve in Phoenix, Arizona. Credit...Clare Cory

After the roller coaster

I knew Pete loved me, but I was I'm not sure he fell in love with my 5 year old daughter until he hoisted her onto his shoulders after a day on the roller coaster. After drinking too many beers on our first date, I told him everything: how I was still going through a divorce, living in a house that wouldn't sell. I didn’t yet understand how my daughter had health problems. Everything seemed so complicated and I expected him to run away. But as he beamed while holding my daughter that day, Smurf-blue ice cream running down his forehead, I could see he was a complete mess. — Shelley Mann Hite

ImageMe, my daughter, Scarlett, and my husband, Pete, on our wedding day in 2014. Credit... Nathan C. Ward

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