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Modern Love

When Getting Old Never Happens

Modern Love

The New York Times

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

4.39K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

They disagreed on a lot of things: She was a “bleeding-heart liberal”; he was a “conservative libertarian.” He “came from good Irish Catholic stock”; she called herself a “hopeful agnostic.” When the firefighter chased her down the street to ask her out, she pinned him as “a bald, white, middle-aged New York City cliché.” On their first date, no topic was off-limits. Not racism, not abortion, not substance abuse. With each date, another debate. Today’s episode is about the space they found in each other — and the unexpected aftermath of their breakup. Featured stories:“‘Old Never Happened for Him,’” Kathryn Jarvis“Firefighter Chases Woman Down Street,” Marlena Brown Marlena's story was narrated by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello?

0:02.0

A band?

0:04.0

Hi, is this Katherine?

0:06.0

Yes, it's nice to hear your voice.

0:08.0

Definitely, you too.

0:12.0

I'm just a go now.

0:14.0

Sure.

0:15.0

Okay.

0:17.0

Randy was a good Jewish boy.

0:18.0

I, a Shixza.

0:20.0

Nevertheless, we dated in common.

0:23.0

I was a good Jewish boy.

0:25.0

I, a Shixza.

0:26.0

Nevertheless, we dated in common.

0:28.0

Nevertheless, we dated in college.

0:30.0

Happy until the Vietnam War intervened.

0:33.0

He served while I went from sorority

0:36.0

soon to protesting hippie.

0:38.0

Time passed.

0:40.0

We moved on.

0:42.0

The month of my wedding, Randy called,

0:44.0

asking me not to go through with it.

...

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