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Produced by the Island at WBUR Boston.

From The New York Times and WBUR Boston, this is Modern Love.

Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption.

I'm your host, Megna Chakrabardi.

Some Modern Love stories are timeless, but others belong very much to a particular moment.

This week's story, by Erin Long, is about a biological family that could only exist today.

Erin's essay is read by Cal Pen.

He's best known for his work in Harold and Kumar and House, and he's starring now in NBC's Sunnyside, which premieres this Thursday.

I didn't meet my girlfriend, Jessica, until 12 years after our daughter, Alice, was born.

Let me explain. Nearly 25 years ago, I returned from a year of teaching English abroad, moved in with my mother and lacking prospects, began driving a cab.

One day I saw a newspaper ad seeking healthy men, 18-35, to participate in a Seaman donation program.

Donors is the standard industry word, yet virtually all of us are paid.

$40 a pop is what I received in 1994.

I applied to sell my sperm and sold twice weekly for a year.

At the time, I was in a long-distance relationship, so this seemed like a good outlet.

When I told my mother, she, presently, wondered aloud if this was the only way she was going to have grandchildren.

Today, sperm buyers viewed detailed profiles for potential vendors, whereas I wasn't asked to provide much beyond college major, hobbies, and family health history.

Jessica and her partner at the time chose me primarily because I was a writer and musician.

After a year of selling my sperm, I went back to giving it away and largely forgot about the whole thing.

Occasionally, the subject of whether I had children would come up and I'd make a joke about probably having a bunch.

I had signed a non-disclosure waiver and assumed there would never be a way for my progeny and me to find one another.

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