Love (Emotion)

July 22, 2026

Tiny Love Stories: ‘A Full, Hiccuping Meltdown Over Nothing’

Brian Rea Introducing Uncle Jay My daughter’s birthday falls three days after my late brother’s. Every July, while I hang lanterns and fill gift bags, grief […]
July 15, 2026

Tiny Love Stories: ‘How to Woo Her?’

Brian Rea Juanita’s Last Laugh “Oh, dear,” my aunt murmured when my grandmother’s gravestone arrived. We had chosen a loving inscription, “Nunca nos olvidaremos de ti,” […]
July 8, 2026

Tiny Love Stories: ‘Why Aren’t You Having Sex Anymore?’

Modern Love in miniature, featuring reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words. Brian Rea Two Unexpected Questions Finding love as a single Jewish mother of […]
June 3, 2026

Tiny Love Stories: ‘As He Dressed, I Slipped Into His Closet’

Modern Love in miniature, featuring reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words. Brian Rea In Aunt Dottie’s Eyes “What if that baby looks … Irish?” […]
June 3, 2026

I Tried to Have a Kid With My Best Friend. It Got Complicated.

‘Most stories about wanting a kid end with having a kid.’ Illustration by Brian Rea Joseph Osmundson spent years joking about having a baby with his […]
May 20, 2026

Tiny Love Stories: ‘A Misdirected Midlife Crisis’

Modern Love in miniature, featuring reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words. Brian Rea All Those Notes My daughter, age 44, has died. One thing […]
May 20, 2026

‘Modern Love’: Escape Rooms as the Cure for Heartbreak

‘I was so scared that I was going to be incapable of taking care of this human life that was about to come into the world.’ […]
May 15, 2026

Tenderly Tracking My Husband

As I watched my husband’s dot go to places he loved, I felt newly connected to him. But could I protect him? The third time my […]
May 8, 2026

Writing About My Mother as if She Were Dead

I needed distance to write honestly about my childhood. But fiction didn’t protect any of us from pain. For three days in 2002, my mother secluded […]
May 6, 2026

Tiny Love Stories: ‘I Could Feel Him Watching Me’

Modern Love in miniature, featuring reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words. The First to Fall The first night he came over, I was already […]