‘Desire Is Never the Mistake’

Modern Love

The New York Times

Storytelling, Nytimes, Nyt, Redemption, New York Times, Society & Culture, Loss, Essay, Love

4.3 • 9K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This holiday season, it’s OK to want more. Paula grew up in foster care, and year after year she would find herself “clobbered by desire” when the holidays rolled around. She longed for a mother and father to rescue her and “make everything better”; she wished for the hip-huggers and games she saw on TV. When she was 21, she met a man named Jeff who ruptured this annual cycle of desire. He became the inspiration for a hard-earned Christmas lesson. Featured stories:“The Holiday of My Dreams Was Just That,” by Paula McLain“A Sweet Reminder,” by Meg Christman Paula's story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. You can find more information on today's episode here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello.
0:01.0	Hey.
0:02.0	Okay.
0:03.0	So if you could just read it and, yeah, it's a really nice piece.
0:14.0	Cool.
0:15.0	Oh, thank you.
0:16.0	Yeah.
0:17.0	Okay.
0:18.0	I'm going to try it.
0:19.0	Okay.
0:20.0	Cool.
0:21.0	We broke up all over New York City.
0:25.5	No one block could see us through.
0:28.4	I saw our split coming on Aster Place in a green plane avenue.
0:33.5	One night we cried until our eyes were raw on the steps of an empty storefront in Williamsburg.
0:39.5	The end was near.
0:41.6	We knew.
0:43.4	A few years and many failed first dates later and noticed a frozen yogurt shop can move
0:50.4	into that empty storefront.
0:53.0	So up the stairs, I crossed the threshold of our heartbreak and I savored all of those
0:59.0	flavors inside.
1:01.6	It was a sweet reminder of life.
	...

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