1. On a Serpentine Road, With the Top Down

"Driving, with the top down, I’m reminded that I too can shift gears, face risk, handle inconvenience — and survive tragedy. My partner, eyes misting, says: 'You love that car. And your husband was an extraordinary man.'"

2. The Night Girl Finds a Day Boy

"I'm a vampire, basically — going to bed around 8 or 9 a.m. and waking around 4 or 5 p.m. First dates usually go OK because they’re in the evening, but complications quickly arise."

3. Strangers on a (Dublin) Train

"We met on a train. A perfect, flirtatious, six hours. The beginning of our love story? Trusting in the power of the universe, we hadn’t exchanged mobile numbers. Sometimes, a romantic plan isn’t enough."

4. A Life Plan for Two, Followed By One

"He was everything a 10-year-old girl could ever hope for in a man. It was decided; I was in love. I started to wonder if the glow from my wedding dress would make him look washed-out. I began devising a plan in which he and I would end up '2gether 4ever,' as all my notebooks stated."

5. Am I ...? Maybe This Quiz Will Tell Me

"In retrospect, maybe I should have known who I was the first time I went looking for a quiz called 'Am I gay?' But I didn’t."

6. In the Waiting Room of Estranged Spouses

"A few months later, I was in the psychologist’s reception room, paying for my fourth really good cry, when a woman carrying a child walked in. I didn’t recognize her at first, and then I remembered her face. 'Are you the wife of the guy my wife is having an affair with?' I asked tactlessly. 'Yeah,' she said. 'But we’re not together anymore.'"

7. How Do You Remember Me?

"I don’t remember his last name. He was handsome, with a nice smile and startlingly blue eyes. The sex was good, I think. We didn’t know each other well. We never would."