“…Now if dreams could dream just like people do, I believe they’d dream the dream of the love between me and you.”
If one were to ask Musiq Soulchild what inspired him to think of this line in his song “Until,” I’m sure his response would have absolutely nothing at all to do with Nicholas, my boyfriend, and I. However, I still like to think somehow, someway our history and the many facets of the bond we have always had played a tiny part in his creative thought process when he was writing this song. But that’s just me! J lol
To briefly fill you in on our ‘love story,’ Nicholas and I have been in our relationship for 2 years, but we’ve known each other for a little more than eight. To say the least, we’ve been on the most interesting, bumpiest, most enlightening, scariest, most exuberant emotional rollercoaster since day one of us meeting. However, it was taking this ride together that has made it so exceptional—like no other either of has ever ridden on before. Without sounding like a tacky romantic novel, we’ve found a mutual place in our relationship that constantly sheds light on how unconditional and rare our love is. While growing up, neither Nicholas nor I were fortunate to have ideal examples to follow when it came to finding and maintaining a good marriage or loving relationship. Nonetheless, we lived and learned. In fact, our relationship was so much of a hot mess when we first met that we had to step back from each other, live a little more, and mentally grow before we realized that as messed up as we both were, we had enough mutual love and respect for each other to at least try again.
Given our love was a diamond in the rough in the beginning, but we still hung in there together are so proud of each other and what we’ve accomplished in our relationship thus far. We aren’t so naïve to think that problems will never arise and everything will always be blissful, but we embrace the idea of tackling those issues together and continue moving forward. On a regular basis, we get the opportunity to see each other’s vulnerability and we constantly communicate with each other. We talk about everything under the sun from marriage and finances to boo boo drawers and head scarves and rollers. lol And it’s those very discussions, whether significant or trivial, that facilitates our communication and honesty with each other. These are the things that keep us anxious for a future with each other. These are the things that keep us curious and simply fascinated with each other. These are the things that make up
Angel Tolliver & Nicholas Smith
