Melissa Petro

How do you break up with a best friend?

It's pretty well understood in 12 step programs that "who you see here and what you say here, stays here."

I do have one advantage when it comes to meeting people online: I really like dating. I like getting dressed up and going out. I even kind of dig meeting someone new. I know these are aspects of dating other people dread, but I’ve always enjoyed these things. Perhaps this is one explanation for (or else a result of) my sex work past, I dunno. I know that, in the beginning, I thought of dating as an adventure. I didn’t take it too seriously.

The other day on Facebook, one of my friends remarked that I was a “later-in-life” bride.

If you missed my weekly column this summer all about getting engaged and planning a wedding, here’s the highlight reel: after doing

My relationship with my father was never father-daughter picnics. Maybe when I was very little — or maybe this is less a memory and more of a wish — I have an image of myself as a very little girl sitting on my father’s lap, and we are both laughing. Perhaps my father enjoyed fatherhood when his children were very little, but that joy seemed to curdle into constant frustration as my brother and I grew up.

Is there anything problematic about trading foot rubs for blow jobs? Or is it a healthy way to add a little spice to a long term relationship?

"Certainly, my life as an alcoholic was not what most would imagine. I was a writer, living in the West Village of New York City, enrolled in a prestigious graduate program and working on a book. At least, this was my cover story."

You may have heard the old joke that 98% of people masturbate, and the other two percent are lying.

"We built a luxury dream home but can only afford to have two children."