Building deeper emotional connection and vulnerability with your partner.
The email came at 9:50 on a snowy Tuesday night in January. I was on Noah’s living room floor with cold lo mein in my lap. It was the score for a certification exam I had studied for since August. I missed passing by four points. My first instinct was to close the laptop and … Read more
It was 4:30 on a hot Saturday in July at Marcus’s company picnic. I stood by the lemonade table holding a plate of potato salad. Across the lawn, he was laughing with a coworker named Priya. They had an inside joke about a broken printer I did not get. Nothing was wrong, and I knew … Read more
Last Tuesday at 6:40 I sat in my car outside Trader Joe’s. I hit record and told him about my day instead of texting. My thumbs were too tired to type out the whole story. So I just talked to my phone like he was sitting right there. He sent one back twelve minutes later … Read more
We were driving home from my sister’s birthday dinner at 10:20. Rain was hitting the windshield and Jake asked how the night went for me. My real answer was that one comment from my mom still stung. What almost came out instead was, it was fine, good food, I am tired. I caught myself mid … Read more
We were driving to my parents’ house on a Sunday in early spring. The radio cut out near the highway and he plugged in his phone instead. A song came on that I never expected him to even know. I was half asleep against the window, still holding my coffee cup. The first chords made … Read more
It was 6:20 on a rainy Wednesday and I had a brutal day at work. Daniel asked if I was okay, and I just nodded instead of answering. I sat on the edge of the bed, arms crossed, saying nothing real at all. That was the third time that month I had done exactly that. … Read more
Theo and I spent three years long distance, him in Denver and me in Austin. Most nights we only had a phone screen between us. I could type “I miss you and I’m scared about my job” without flinching. Saying that same sentence out loud made my throat close. It took me years to notice … Read more
My boyfriend Sam got home at 6:45 on a Sunday in October. I asked how his day was and kept folding towels. He answered in one sentence and I did not even look up. That small moment on our back porch changed how I listen now. It was not a fight or a big blowup … Read more
It rained all Sunday in October and we never left the house. I finally asked why he had been so quiet all week. He set his coffee down and looked at the rug. Then he said, I am not good at talking about feelings, and stopped. That sentence used to end every hard conversation we … Read more
It was a Thursday in November and my laptop sat on three library books. My boyfriend was on FaceTime, eight hundred miles away. My mom had just told me the family was selling my grandmother’s house. I started crying at 10:20 at night with the camera still on. We had been long distance for a … Read more
