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Tormented by anxiety throughout her 20s, Mariclare Lawson would only go on dates while drunk. Then, when she stopped drinking at 27, Ms. Lawson found that her social skills with men were stunted. Without a drink to release her unease, she felt like she was 16 again, the age she was when she fell in love with a shy pianist. Luckily for Ms. Lawson, the shy pianist reappeared in her newly sober adult life.

On this week’s Modern Love podcast, the actress Amanda Seyfried reads Ms. Lawson’s essay, “He’s Playing Our Song.”