A few months after moving in with her friend Susie, Tracey Emerson knew that she’d found the life she wanted.
“It just kept feeling like it was a better situation than any alternative,” she says. “I always kept feeling like, ‘This is where I want to be,’ and that it does make sense.”
THAT WAS OVER 20 years ago, and the pair have lived together ever since as platonic life partners—a relationship where the person you build your life with is a friend.
Just like a spouse, platonic partners may share a home, finances, and even co-parent, but aren’t romantic or sexual with each other.
These sorts of partnerships are nothing new—the concept of chosen family is well-ingrained in LGBTQAI+ culture, while 19thcentury “Boston marriages” allowed unmarried women to live together— but a surge of interest driven by social media has thrust them into a new spotlight.
IT'S JUST ANOTHER WAY OF EXPERIENCING A FULFILLING RELATIONSHIP
