Six Words: Love, Loss, Betrayal, Death, Regret, Relief

It’s been a poetic, lovelorn, literary week at the Takeaway. In honor of Valentine’s Day, we asked you to share your stories of love and loss, and to do so in exactly six words. We launched our project a week ago with Larry Smith, editor of Smith Magazine and pioneer of the six-word-memoir project. And Larry is back to discuss your stories, which you tweeted to us with the hashtag #sixwords, posted on Facebook, and texted us.
Among them were many success stories:
Brian wrote: I knew immediately. She took convincing.
Astrid wrote: I choose you. You choose me.
Shawna Kennedy from Dallas wrote: You can find anything on Craigslist.
Many of the love stories focused on surprise love in the autumn years:
Anne B Lawver wrote: “Love at this age? Who knew.”
John O’Malley wrote: “After forty years, my love called.”
Carlton Johnson from Florida wrote: “The God of Second Chances smiled.”
But one of the biggest themes was regret:
Claire from Brooklyn wrote: “Wasn’t ready then, miss you now.”
Robert wrote: “It really was all my fault.”
Catherine wrote: “Self doubt got in the way.”
And of course, there was longing:
Ray Montpelier wrote: “I’ll wait for you. Maybe forever.”
Gail wrote: You are gone, I am lost.”
Betrayal was also big:
Larry Fisher from Brooklyn wrote: “The bad ones break your heart.”
Laurel wrote: “We met. I loved. He lied.”
And, sadly, many stories touched on death…
Ellen from Williamsburg, New York wrote: “My beloved died in my arms.”
Annie Ellis from Portland, Oregon wrote: “Love survives all things; even death.”
But some listeners were very happy for the end to come:
Rachel Brusseau wrote: “Good bye, good riddance, mother fu**er.”
Di Dootson Rose wrote: “Thankful for marriage and the divorce.”
In addition to the short stories above, we also have the background from a couple – a straight couple – who found love in an unexpected place. Their story reads: Gay bar meeting, true love found.
The female half of the couple is  Amy Eoff  and the male half is  William Gibson.