Tiny Love Stories: ‘The Cooler, Funnier Version of Myself’

The New York Times Modern Love column published Tiny Love Stories, a set of reader-submitted pieces of 100 words or fewer, on Jan. 28, 2026. In “Free from Purgatory,” Ann Weissman writes that she knew her father’s life was ending when he welcomed soldiers only he could see, spoke to shadows of his sister and parents, and held a longest conversation with “Private Roberts.” Her father, a Vietnam vet, said, “I have been waiting for this for so long, ever since I’ve been shot down,” and Weissman concludes, “In his death, I understood his love.” — Ann Weissman Jack MacDonald’s “Our Silver Jubilee” describes sipping mimosas with Alyssa in an airport lounge and deciding, after a Wiki spiral, that “Italy is our silver jubilee,” a 25th celebration of years on earth rather than marriage.

He and Alyssa toast “an honest friendship that makes earth fun,” noting, “Italy is 25. Japan will be 50.” — Jack MacDonald Nicole Hardy’s “First Love Never Dies” recounts a December call from Maxwell: “Might drop dead tomorrow,” he said. Hardy recalls their early romance while working as a deckhand in Seattle, and later confronting Parkinson’s, heart failure and a D.N.R.

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