[theme music]
Anna Martin: From the New York Times,
I'm Anna Martin.
This is Modern Love.
This week's essay is written by a Deaf man
who's been let down by every lover he's ever had.
And then he meets this one guy
who just might give him everything he's ever wanted.
The essay is written by Ross Showalter
and read by Joshua Castille, who's an incredible Deaf actor.
But I hope you listen really closely to this one.
It's called 'A Love Language Spoken with Hands.'
It starts out,
'On a gloomy January day, my phone lit up.
Will had texted me a video.'
Joshua Castille: Will had texted me a video.
Something clenched in my stomach.
In the solitude of my bedroom, I hunched over my phone and pressed 'play.'
In the video, Will stepped back from his phone camera.
He wore a striped polo shirt.