Hi, I'm Anna Martin.
I'm the host of the Modern Love podcast for the New York Times,
and today it is my total treat to guest host this special Valentine's Day episode of The Moth.
In honor of this holiday, which, depending on the status of your love life,
might be your least favorite or your most favorite day of the year,
we're featuring three stories all about how much love can hurt,
about all the pain and heartache and disaster that true love can lead to, but also,
about how love can help ease that pain and heartache, and maybe even help us heal.
First up is Patricia Dunphy, who told this story at a New York City Story slam where the theme was,
appropriately enough, Love Hurts,
an annual audience favorite for over 15 years at our open night nights.
Here's Patricia, live at the mouth.
So I stood next to his bed, and I put both of his hands in my hands.
And you know, he had really fine hands.
Really true.
He was just a true guy.
I just never thought I could love anybody the way I love this man Alan and I Wanted to move my hands away
because he was starting to get cold and I didn't want to hold them when they were ice-cold But it was so hard to think that I was never going to hold his hands again And I took my hands away You know our relationship started about a little over two decades before that You know,
we were both just around 50 years old and we started dating in Manhattan.
And it was like I was a teenager.