Finally Finding “The Magic”
Since childhood, I yearned for love. Once, I came within weeks of marriage before it abruptly fell apart. He said we were missing “the magic,” and, admittedly, he was right. A few men came and went. I’m now 59 with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. I still don’t have a partner, but I’ve fallen desperately in love with life. Exquisite beauty emerges everywhere: my cat on my lap, a cashier extending an unexpected smile, sunlight skipping across a lake. I use each day to soak up the world’s splendor. “Not yet,” I whisper to the heavens. “I love it here.” — Clare Cory
After the Rollercoaster
I knew Pete loved me, but I wasn’t sure he’d fallen for my 5-year-old until he hoisted her onto his shoulders after a day riding roller coasters. Over too many beers on our first date, I’d told him everything: how I was still slogging through a divorce, living in a house that wouldn’t sell. How my daughter had medical issues I had yet to unravel. Everything felt so complicated, and I expected him to run. But as he beamed holding my daughter that day, Smurf-blue ice cream trickling down his forehead, I could see he was all in on messy. — Shelley Mann Hite
