The New York Times Sunday edition has a page buried in one of its lower alphabet sections called “Modern Love.” On this one page are usually two stories about the topic, one long and detailed; the other about one hundred words. Usually I tend to the one with the fewer words.
Today’s “Tiny Love Stories” entry was titled “Our Call and Response.” I print it here verbatim:
“Earl and I were introduced in January 1961. As we sat in a darkened movie theater in April watching a rescreening of “An American in Paris,” he leaned forward and whispered, “I think I love you.” I replied, “Please let me know when you do.” He did and we married in October. Over the next 46 happy years until Earl passed, he would occasionally lean forward and whisper, “I think I love you.” And yes, I would then lean forward and whisper, “Please let me know when you do.”
In so few words, such emotion.
The other story on the same page was titled “Two Voices in the Dark Discover Their Path Together.” It described how a couple who hardly knew each other developed a relationship across great distance. Eventually they married. But this story was similar in writing style and content to so many other stories that have graced this page that my mind wandered. I’m not even sure they are written by individuals with stories to tell, because the tone week after week is the same.
Give me “I think I love you” every time.
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