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Produced by the I-Lab at WBUR Boston.

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

The New York Times and WBUR Boston.

Stories of Love, Laws, and Redemption.

I'm your host, Megna Chacrabardi.

Fantasies can help us escape.

For John Grafair, a fantasy helped him carry on.

Richard Jenkins received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the shape of water.

He reads John's essay, In My Fantasy, I Caught Up to Reality.

Lisa said it wasn't me.

She said I was the love of her life.

But something needed to change, she explained.

And I was in the way.

So she took our six-year-old adopted daughter and went to Florida, vowing not to return.

Maybe I should have seen it coming.

I knew how she struggled through New Hampshire winters.

The long nights, the cold.

I knew the loss of identity she suffered by not having a job she liked.

I knew the ways she relied on me that I often couldn't be relied upon.

But it was June. Winter was over. Summer was beginning.

We had gotten through. We were dealing.

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