In the Beginning

First couple photo standing at Brooklyn Bridge!

Let's be honest, it wasn't always easy and there were plenty of people that didn't agree with our relationship. Dhruv comes from a traditional Indian background where arranged marriages are still a thing. He is a practicing Hindu and marrying outside of his caste is very unusual. He came to the US for his Master's program almost ten years ago and remained here on a work visa working in the IT Medical field. Ironically, it was his extended family here in the US that had a harder time accepting us than his closest family in India.

As for me, I am a white woman from the South living in rural North Carolina. When I say there are not a lot of people from India here, it's an understatement. I am the first person in my immediate family to enter into an interracial marriage. I was divorced and had two children, with my daughter living at home. I came from a farming family that is still high conservative. Yet, my family has absorbed Dhruv into our family unit and our differences are celebrated. Just ask my nieces and nephews who love it when he makes shrimp curry or biryani for them at Thanksgiving and Christmas!

In the beginning, it took a lot of patience on both of our parts to learn our accents, our vocabulary and just our own routines. I'm not gonna lie, we met online and I never would have thought this was going to be the end game when we made that first date. He was living in Greensboro, NC about three hours away from me. Yet, when we had the chance to just sit down and talk, I was hooked. Not only is he a cutie, but Dhruv is incredibly intelligent-which is my key criteria! I can't be with someone that can't carry on a conversation. We discussed history, our traditions, our families, politics, religion and all the things you should never mention on a first date! Acceptance and understanding was critical, and I was amazed at all that I was learning from him.

We kept our relationship a secret for the first few weeks-and when we started to tell people, of course they were hesitant. I walked into his world and shocked his friends and family. Truly it was culture shock for many of them as they rarely socialized with those outside of their own culture. This picture is from our first real trip together, just two months after we started dating. At the last minute, I took off to NYC with him to visit some of his friends and we went to the Brooklyn Bridge. This was our first couple's picture and now- that is our spot! Even then, we were still a question in each other's minds, but he was sincere enough to take the chance. It is truly amazing what relationships, friendships and experiences you can have when you keep an open-mind and choose understanding over judgment.