Love stories — where did they go?

I miss romantic movies.

I realized this only recently over Christmas break when I had some downtime. It was the first time in a full year that I had one entire week in which I did not have to get up to the sound of my phone alarm. It was glorious. During that splendid week, once the hustle and bustle was over, I noticed that there were so many movies that I loved on various channels, and I happily indulged (albeit often while checking e-mails, but still).

There was “Prelude To A Kiss,” “Moonstruck,” and “The Family Man.” While none of these are particularly life-changing, they are entertaining and relatable family tales in which one person loves another person. Yes, they have trials. Yes, they have fights. Yes, they question whether they should be together at times. But in the end, they love each other.

Love.

The characters aren’t scouring Tinder for a new hook-up or late-night texting to plan for a friends-with-benefits situation. They actually found a person attractive — in real life, and (gasp) spoke to them (!), and then essentially got to know them. They fell in love and decided to spend their life with that one person.

I have not been to a good movie in … wait, let me think … I honestly can’t even remember the last time I went to a good movie. The theaters now seem packed with action flicks, superhero remakes, and, well, utter crap: trashy material aimed at teens, which ironically attract countless middle-aged people, too.

Where are the true love movies? Where are the stories that show us, especially our youth, that although relationships are tricky, falling in love is possible — that any relationships, romantic or otherwise, require sacrifice and dedication, and that life is more than liking half-naked photos on your phone?

We need to be reminded that relationships are work, whether we are talking about friendships, romantic relationships, or even work partnerships. Being in any relationship requires us to grow and move beyond our comfort zones. A good relationship will challenge you, but the rewards are immeasurable.

The good thing is that February is the month of love, so the cable networks will be playing all the favorites — get ready for the marathons. While I do love stories, I’ve never seen the one that so many swear by, “The Way We Were.” I know the story, but I want to see it for myself, from beginning to end. Or course, if “The Notebook” happens to find its way to my TV, well, I’ll happily indulge in that, too.

Danielle Sullivan, a mom of three, is a writer and editor living in New York City.

Enabling Devices

Enabling Devices is a family-run business that designs, manufactures and sells adapted toys and accessible devices that make life more joyful and fulfilling for children and adults living with disabilities. &nbsp; It started with a train set, a mercury switch, and a young boy whose therapist thought he couldn&rsquo;t play with toys. In 1975 our founder, Dr. Steven Kanor, walked into a room at United Cerebral Palsy/Long Island and saw a boy sitting in a wheelchair, his head resting on his shoulder. When he asked where the toys were, the OT said, &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t have the motor skills to play with toys, and he can&rsquo;t lift his head.&rdquo; But Dr. Kanor was not interested in what the boy couldn&rsquo;t do. He was interested in the boy's potential. The next morning, he was back. He&rsquo;d brought a train set, which he&rsquo;d connected to a mercury switch. The switch, the first capability switch he&rsquo;d designed, was attached to the boy&rsquo;s ear. When the boy raised his head, the switch made contact and the train ran around the tracks. After several weeks of playing with this toy, the boy was holding his head up straight, even when the train was not running. Dr. Kanor was elated. Since that day, he never stopped innovating, never stopped trying to make our products better, never stopped designing new devices. Today, our design team is just as passionate, just as creative, and just as committed to innovation as the man who founded this company. Enabling Devices is the place to find toys, devices and tools that help build more joyful, fulfilling lives. We have an extensive selection of adapted toys, capability switches, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, adapted electronics, mounts, iPad products, sensory items and products for the visually impaired. Over the years, the important constants remain. We&rsquo;re still the same small, family-run company Steven Kanor founded in 1978, with the same values of personal connection and deep product knowledge. We&rsquo;re still committed to providing caring, individualized service to each customer. And we&rsquo;re still grateful for the privilege of sharing in your journey.

Windward School

A coed, independent day school exclusively for students with dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities, The Windward School enrolls students in grades one through nine. 98% of Windward students move on to mainstream schools after completing The Windward School's academic program. The Windward School is nationally recognized for its development of instructional programs designed specifically to help students achieve language proficiency. The School&rsquo;s academic curriculum is research-based and multisensory in nature and is designed to give students the skills they need to succeed in school and return with confidence to mainstream educational settings.

Family Speech Center

Family Speech Center has been servicing children, adolescents, and adults since 2003. Our Speech-Language Pathologists are trained professionals who evaluate and diagnose adults and children to identify specific speech, language and swallowing difficulties. Once the communication difficulties are assessed and identified, our Speech-Language Pathologists develop and implement a therapy plan individualized to meet a client&rsquo;s needs. Our staff has experience with many types of communication disorders and difficulties, including language delay and weak vocabulary skills, articulation/phonological disorders, myofunctional disorders, apraxia, language learning disabilities, auditory/language processing difficulties, fluency disorders, and pragmatic/social disorders.