By Ashlene Lebrón
Meet Stephanie and Lee, two women who are madly in love with each other and who couldn’t be more different. Steph is from the Humanities Department, whereas Lee is a Science major. They’ve been together since August 2016 and couldn’t be happier. Upon meeting them in person for the first time, you could feel the chemistry and love surrounding them. While speaking to them, you could tell how passionate they were of one another and how they complemented each other’s personalities.
These two souls met during their job at the university. Steph spotted Lee during her first day at work and was immediately captivated by her. So, one day, they were assigned a job together and when Steph saw her interact with children, “I couldn’t deal with it. I fell in love.” Later that day, they and their coworkers went to get some drinks, and they started talking and everything just fell into place. Steph was clear about her feelings from the very beginning, “I have feelings for you, I can’t hide it. I just have to tell you,” she recalls.
Now, being together for so long, pet peeves about each other are more visible. Lee says Steph is “difficult with food, since she is so picky. All she eats is fried chicken or French fries.” So basically, fast food. Whereas, Steph comments on Lee’s lack of enthusiasm when it comes to walking: “she’s lazy.”
Pet peeves are difficult to ignore, but with a partner, they can feel amplified from spending so much time together. Steph loves Lee’s personality, “anyone who comes in contact with her is always happy. She has this energy and smile about her that is contagious, which is the quality that just about killed me.” To which, I completely agree with, I automatically felt comfortable around her. Lee, on the other hand, loves how different they are. “The thing I love most about her, is how she is completely different than me. For example, I love dancing, and she’s more introverted.”
However, being so different, complements them perfectly. Yet it raises the question, what do they do on date nights?
“We compromise, she loves dancing and since I’m such an introvert, it isn’t my thing, but I would still go to all of her salsa classes and even learned how to dance salsa. When it comes to stuff I like, Arte en la Placita, she goes with me and now loves it,” Steph said enthusiastically. “Exactly, I never went to them and now every time there is Arte en la Placita, I get excited and we go,” Lee confirmed. Thus, we can see they make a balance and compromise, which leads them to obtain new experiences they never thought they would enjoy.
Since August, they have had some awesome trips; most recently, in December, they went to a camping trip at the Pico Rodadero, in Yauco. They camped for three days and took some amazing pictures, like the one featured in this article. Lee, surprisingly, had no problem walking that day, she just hates walking to the university, but if she’s outdoors, she’s down for the adventure. While this trip is one of their favorite memories together, for them, nothing beats the day Steph asked Lee to be her girlfriend in San Juan.
In a world where the LGBTQ community has been expanding beautifully, there are still some obstacles. Thus, I asked them what advice they would give to future couples, Steph responded, “Don’t let it stop you from having a relationship because you’re scared. In our case, for example, this interview is scary because our families know about our preferences, but don’t know about our relationship. So, just ignore those external factors because if you don’t, you will never be happy and won’t be able to do whatever you want. Keep being you and ignore those factors.”
PS. They have adorable matching tattoos. #RelationshipGoals