Relationship advice from unlikely sources

Sarai

"Girls should get married around 27 or 28,” says Sarai, who wants to be an author when she grows up. "They shouldn't get married to their first boyfriend. They should wait a while." Why 27 or 28? "When you're 19 or 20, it's just not the perfect age," she says.

Jimmy

"Newlyweds always ask me advice and I tell them, 'Be like a branch and bend!'" says Jimmy, who has been a doorman for over 40 years. From his experience, it's the couples he never sees apart that end up lasting the longest. "Usually when I see one, I see the other."

Doris

"He loved his children, but he loved me more," confides Doris of her husband of 61 years. (Together, they had three sons, five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.) "He nurtured my dreams," she says. "Now that he's gone, I still have my identity as an artist, and as a person. Survivors are people who never lose themselves, no matter how much they love another person."

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Sean

While Sean thinks it's important to honor the commitment of marriage, it's equally as important to admit when it's time to end a dysfunctional relationship. "Being able to summon the courage to unravel yourself, and to do so with respect, dignity, and grace, is clearly a personal success," he says. What steps can a woman take to avoid a visit to his office? "Observe his behavior closely when you're dating," he says. "The way he treats others will be the way he treats you."

Heidi

As a performer on the New York City subways, Heidi has observed countless couples. True love, she notes, is quiet. "The couple just seems like one person," she says. "They hold hands. They don't broadcast it."

Kenneth

Kenneth is an animator and single father of two children, ages 17 and 23. He says that he can tell a relationship is serious after the first week, because he gets a premonition. So how does he know when it's over? "It's usually the woman who walks away,” he admits. "In my personal experience, women are the ones who finally say it's done, and really mean it."

Karen

As a florist, Karen has a unique insight into how to tell when a man is in love. "They don't ask how much an order will cost," she says. In her personal life, Karen believes that a woman should wait to move in with a man until she's married. "It's like with ice cream—it's the first thing you want to eat after you go grocery shopping, but if you wait until later, it tastes so much better."

Brendan

"As the guy, it's your responsibility to pay for the girl on the first date," says Brendan, a junior in high school. Eventually, he thinks splitting the bill is OK, but initially it's important to splurge—both to impress the girl and make her feel comfortable.