Ellen McCarthy was dumped on the same day she was hired as The Washington Post’s wedding reporter.

Filling your single-gal weekends with other people’s weddings doesn’t sound all that fun, but McCarthy threw herself into the task –reporting on why people loved each other, not on their parents’ businesses or the sum total of their degrees.

There were ups and downs. She drove herself into a panic thinking about her own future. She froze her eggs. She learned about love through others. Five years later, she is married with a second child on the way –and out with a new book.

Tell us your own love story, whether it lasted or fizzled, and read some of the lessons McCarthy learned from other couples before she joins us Thursday, April 22 at 12:30 p.m. EST.