Literary Mama Rewind: Romance and Dating
Welcome to Literary Mama Rewind! Every few weeks we’ll round up some of our favorite essays, stories, poems, columns, and reviews from the Literary Mama archives relating to a particular theme. It’s the month to fall in love again. So we’ve collected some stories from the archives about dating, romance, and the loves of our lives.
- My Mustard Valentine by Susan Ito from the Column Life in the Sandwich
He’s the only man in a houseful of women, and I can’t help thinking that must be disorienting and lonely. Sometimes, when I’m cuddled on the guest room bed between daughters, watching Gilmore Girls or a goofy romantic comedy, he opens the door, takes a wild-eyed glance at the television screen, and retreats.
- A Most Unusual Valentine by Rebecca Kaminsky from the Column Down Will Come Baby
Today is Valentine’s Day. I know it’s cheesy, but Jack and I are going out and I want to look nice. But none of my old clothes fit. I’m premenstrual and these days that means I look ugly.
- Surviving that First Date Night by Marjorie Osterhout from the Column Dear Marjo
Dear Marjo, My husband and I haven’t had a Date Night since our baby was born, about six months ago. I’m okay with that; in fact, Date Night is the last thing I want to do right now. But it’s the first thing my husband wants to do. (You can guess what’s second.)
- Condensation Hearts by Brittany Fonte in Fiction
There had been time to tell my edited widower’s tale; women seem to be drawn to it like they are not drawn to me in my best ‘daddy wear’: a torn college sweatshirt and lemon yellow high school basketball shorts. Laurel and I’d met at an acquaintance’s dinner party, and neither of us had known very many people there.
- My Pretty by Carley Moore in Poetry
My dumb heart thinks it knows something, but really its tick is all flounder and worry, wallow and sorry.
- A Conversation with Marion Winik by Lisa Lynne Lewis in Profiles
Marion Winik’s most recent memoir, Highs in the Low Fifties: How I Stumbled Through the Joys of Single Living, chronicles Winik’s return to the dating world and her experiences along the way.
- An Interview with Susie Bright by Heidi Raykeil in Profiles
Susie Bright is the national best-selling author and editor of eight books on sex and sexual politics. Her most recent work, Mommy’s Little Girl: On Sex, Motherhood, Porn, and Cherry Pie, is a collection of personal essays written after the birth of her daughter.
- Single Mom Seeking: A Review of Single Mom Seeking: Play Dates, Blind Dates, and Other Dispatches from the Dating World by Suzanne Lafetra in Reviews
Rachel Sarah begins her memoir, Single Mom Seeking: Play Dates, Blind Dates, and Other Dispatches from the Dating World, this way: “My life was not supposed to look like this.” At 28, with a 7-month-old daughter, Sarah finds herself suddenly single when her boyfriend Eric flies the coop. Lots of books may start from the single-mom premise, but Sarah delivers her story with humor, insight, lots of practical goodies, and a huge dose of honesty.