Free B001NLKW62 EBOK by Larry Smith, Rachel Fershleiser Page A

fascinating and deeply felt. Entire books lie beneath “Teen homewrecker. Still miss his kid,” “She got Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I bailed,” and “War destroyed his heart and mine.”
    Of course the happily-ever-afters have their own charm, and some of the most touching stories come from those who’ve found the secret of everlasting love. Late Yankees great Bobby Murcer and his wife, Kay, offer a pair of memoirs on Chapter 1. They met when he was eleven, she nine. “When Kay flashed those big brown eyes my way, I was a goner!” he told us just months before he passed away. “Been gazing into them for over fifty years!” Kay said, “We have opposing personality traits, but our daily dose of laughter is the key to marital bliss.”
    We also mined love stories from some more mismatched contributors. We’ve got memoirists gay, straight, single, married, divorced, and polyamorous, hailing from Australia to Vietnam. An entry by sex columnist Dan Savage sits alongside one by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Robert Hass. Janice Dickinson dishes out six words of advice in the brazen spirit she’s known for, while Chip Rowe—a.k.a. The Playboy Advisor—reveals something we suspect he’s never told his millions of readers. And what has the world’s most famous divorce lawyer, Raoul Felder, learned about love? Heartbreaking, indeed.
    We hope this book will provide some laughs, some glimmers of recognition, and some moments of solace. Under the covers with your sweetheart, over cocktails with friends, or alone with a tube of cookie dough, you’ll find real life on every page. Ponder the stories, write your own, and tell them at sixwordmemoirs.com.
    Lastly, we offer this six-word suggestion: Share them with someone you love.
The Editors of SMITH Magazine
January 2009
New York, NY
     

 
    Offered my heart; he embraced it.
    —Sue Kimber
     
     
Should have read the
    pre-nup agreement.
    — Loranne Brown
     
     
Not always perfect.
    But so worthwhile.
    — Lauren Anderson
     
     
Lost my virginity to her husband.
    — Shawna Mayer
     
     
Red-eye. Him window.
    Me aisle. Love.
    — Joanne Flynn Black
     
     
Thought “great legs!”
    Said “great smile!”
    — Lionel Ancelet
     
     
Coffee, my vice. So was he.
    — Alessandra Rizzotti
     
     
If I get Chlamydia,
    blame MySpace.
    — Hanorah Slocum
     
     

What once
    were two, are one.
    — George Saunders
     
     

I never said “I love you.”
    — S. Lynn Taylor
     
     
Don’t trust a man who waxes.
    — Noelle Hancock
     
     
Waited for her
    to be legal.
    — Jonathan Lesser
     
     
Lovesick. 1985.
    Suicide by Pop Rocks.
    — Jaynel Attolini
     
     
She got back on the Vespa.
    — Josh McHugh
     
     
Magnetic attraction
    fused two polar opposites.
    — Phil Sylvester
     
     
He’s dumb but lifts
    heavy stuff.
    — Laura Fausset
     
     
Will government ever let us marry?
    — Vicki Marsh
     
     

I think it was the cassoulet.
    — Amy Ephron
     
     
Never forget, I love you madly.
    — Alan Rader
     
     

Love blooms like crocuses:
    dirty, brave.
    — Antay Bilgutay
     
     
Feasted, fasted, festered, fostered.
    Fisted? Ewww.
    — Ben Karlin
     
     
I wasn’t supposed
    to meet you.
    — Deborah Greene
     
     
Silently suffered
    his facial hair
    experiments.
    — Elizabeth Minkel
     
     
War destroyed his heart and mine.
    — Dr. Maggie McClure
     
     
Met him online.
    Blogged our divorce.
    — Kristy Sammis
     
     
Erectile dysfunction doesn’t
    kill true love.
    — Karin Poklen
     
     
No, you can’t have the
    toaster.
    — Diana Spechler
     
     
Should have listened to
    the soothsayer.
    — Lisa Johnson
     
     
While playing
    wingman, found
    my wife.
    — Scott Northrup
     
     
Ten-year romance without
    your participation.
    — Amanda Pawesk
     
     
Parents:
    “Mentioning homosexuality
    upsets your brother.”
    — Dean Morris
     
     
Seeking Hell, finding Heaven.
    Very disappointed.
    — Richard Zacks
     
     
He left his wife
    for me.
    — Selina