Captivating Couples 2015
Phoenix, AZ
Gwen, 43, dental hygienist
Ronda, 47, corporate travel agent
"Seriously, our biggest challenge has been our timing," say Gwen and Ronda. "We have always known that we were meant for each other, but circumstances seemed to always keep us from having a relationship." They first met 17 years ago in Alaska, but were both with other people. Then they had a period when they were free, but didn´t want to mess up their friendship. "As the years went by, one of us was ready to commit and the other wasn´t, and it went back and forth like that for years… Thankfully, fate stepped in–we were reunited three years ago, and haven´t spent a moment (besides work) apart ever since," says Gwen. The thing that once kept them apart, their friendship, is now the thing that binds them together. And fate seems to be in their corner this time. Not only was same-sex marriage recently made legal in Arizona, but they also just won a contest to get a free dream wedding, courtesy of the Hotel Palomar in Phoenix! "I used to have a lot of regret about [the years spent apart]," says Gwen, "wishing we would have just been together from day one, but now, as I look back, it was so important for us to have our own life experiences first, so we could be ready to totally commit to the one."
All you need is love!
LEAH & LINDSEY
Brooklyn, NY
Leah, 29, head of social strategy at Ralph & Co, working on their Netflix Originals account
Lindsey, 34, director of digital and social marketing at HBO
Leah and Lindsey have discovered a few tricks to keeping their relationship healthy. "We maintain a shared sense of what really matters," they say, "[such as] a common prioritization of family. We try to speak to one another with a very irreverent sense of humor. We focus on teaching each other things that open both our horizons…and push each other to be better friends, sisters, bosses, daughters." The couple, who work in the television industry (Leah handles social strategy for Netflix, while Lindsey does digital and social marketing for HBO) met via OkCupid in April 2013. And while being in love is a total blast most of the time, they´ve struggled mightily with one issue. "When you´re in love, it´s easy to take the joy of being coupled off for granted and lose sight of your individual identity—the things that endeared the other person to you in the first place. We recently discovered that if we don´t prioritize alone time with friends and family, or keep pursuing our unique dreams, then our bright spots start to dim. To overcome this, we´re communicating about it openly and pushing one another outside our comfort zones." They think they might get married someday and see themselves living in the woods because, as they put it, "city life is for the birds."
