Listen and subscribe to Modern Love
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

‘But I knew: If I drank, I would cheat, and she would leave. She had the tools and presence to move on, and I didn’t. She would be the one who got away.’

Sarah and Liz met on a blind date in New York City. Sarah ordered a club soda with a splash of cranberry juice. Liz ordered wine — twice.

A few weeks into dating, while taking a walk together through Chelsea Market, a feeling crystallized for Liz deep in her gut: “I knew in the way seasons change that I would love her before this one ended.”

In order to make this work, Liz knew she could no longer hide from Sarah that she had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

Six weeks after they got married, Liz was jolted by unforeseen news. She found herself in an airport, en route to Milan, tempted by a cold escape.

Today’s stories

“Flying Close to Temptation,” Liz Parker

“It felt like eating glass while I said it,” Liz told Miya, a host of the podcast, reflecting on the first time she told her wife, Sarah, about her problems with alcohol. But “to Sarah’s credit,” Liz said, “she gave me the room. She just said, OK, what might you want to do?”

“What Love Feels Like,” E.J. Schwartz

In today’s Tiny Love Story, E.J. writes that love is like “the workout where you squat and catch the medicine ball at the same time. It’s falling and lifting at once.”

Hosted by: Daniel Jones and Miya Lee
Produced by: Kelly Prime and Hans Buetow
Edited by: Wendy Dorr and Sara Sarasohn
Music by: Dan Powell
“What Love Feels Like,” written and read by: E.J. Schwartz
“Flying Close to Temptation,” narration by: Gabra Zackman, produced by Ryan Wegner and Kelly Rogers at Audm
Executive Producer, NYT Audio: Lisa Tobin
Assistant Managing Editor, NYT: Sam Dolnick

Special thanks: Nora Keller, Mahima Chablani, Julia Simon, Laura Kim, Bonnie Wertheim, Anya Strzemien, Joanna Nikas and Choire Sicha

Want more from Modern Love? Read past stories. Watch the TV series and sign up for the newsletter. We also have swag at the NYT Store and two books, “Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption” and “Tiny Love Stories: True Tales of Love in 100 Words or Less” (forthcoming).