Love Beyond Boundaries

So… it’s the 21 century and there are all kinds of coupled folks living and loving at their best or at least trying too. Is there someone for everyone? Is the love of your life living right next door or on the other side of the planet? How do you know? Are you even supposed to be in a relationship? This ain’t your great granny’s love story bub - there are no rules in these ever changing times.

Let the conformists look and comment, let them judge - don’t let anyone project their bullshit onto you and what’s ultimately making you happy and hopefully whole. There are still a lot of healing and open wounds; for some it ain’t so easy to accept, for others it’s just a natural evolution; from mixed race couples to just plain odd couples people like who they like and there’s really nothing wrong with that.

But here’s the thing—love isn’t a performance for the world to accept, critique, or analyze. It just is. And yet, here we are in 2025, still catching side-eyes, double takes, and the occasional awkward pause when someone realizes we don’t fit their pre-packaged idea of who should be loving whom. Some people are bold with it, while others let their expressions say it all: confusion, curiosity, fascination, even approval—like he just leveled up in some imaginary game of social clout for dating a Black woman. Meanwhile, when my circle finds out he’s white, there’s often that moment of processing, a quiet “oh,” like they’re recalibrating whatever they assumed about me.

It’s not that we’re out here looking for approval, but it’s wild how much people still care. The stares, the silent questions—they don’t bother me like they might have years ago. We exist in a world that loves to put things in neat little boxes, and our relationship just doesn’t fit. And that’s fine. Because what we’ve built? It’s ours. It’s real.

The truth is, we argue like any other couple. We get on each other’s nerves. We have days when we’re just not vibing. Our love story isn’t some perfectly curated Instagram romance—it’s messy, hilarious, raw, and filled with the kind of inside jokes that only two people who’ve been through life together can share. We’re not glued at the hip, either. We’ve got our own lives, our own spaces, and our own ambitions, but at the end of the day, we choose each other, and that’s what matters.

People want to know how we ended up together, as if there must be some grand, unusual reason beyond the simple fact that we just click. The answer isn’t revolutionary—we met, we connected, we built something solid. Love isn’t always about the expected, the traditional, or the easy. Sometimes, it’s about the undeniable.

So, for anyone wondering: Yes, love is love. Yes, we see the looks. No, we don’t care. And yes, I am a catch. That part is non-negotiable.

-Tish
(September 22, 2019 original)