My name is Lily, and I am 41 years old. Recently, my husband left me after 20 years of marriage, and I had no idea how to move forward. I’d married young and never really learned how to be alone—or how to start over. I tried to make friends, but at my age, it…

My ex showed up on my doorstep one day, after I’d kicked him out for good reason. He had that plastic, Sunday-school smile plastered on his face, the one he used whenever he wanted to seem like a hero. Without waiting for an invite, he shoved a plastic grocery bag into my hands. Inside:…

My name is Oakley, and six months ago, I lost my baby at 16 weeks. They don’t tell you what this kind of grief feels like. How it hollows you out from the inside, leaving you walking around like a shell of a person. How every pregnant woman you see on the street feels…

I wasn’t always a painter. I was an electrician for 30 years. I dealt with wires and breakers and everything else that came with the job, including difficult customers. Built a good life with my wife, Marlene, in a modest house with a vegetable garden out back and wind chimes she insisted on hanging…

My name is Hannah, and I’m 35. And I honestly thought I knew everything about the man I married. David and I have been together for six years. We met at a wedding, danced through three slow songs, and exchanged numbers like shy teenagers. Two years later, we were married under a canopy of…