Just Like Mia and Woody — Minus the Marrying the Stepdaughter Part

What if the only goal of a relationship is simply to enjoy each other’s time?

Judith Victoria
9 min readSep 23, 2022
Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels

“So, when are you guys moving in together?”

Not in the mood to have this conversation again, I shrug and stare at my screen.

“It’s been what, four years? Aren’t you guys ready for the next step?”

This question triggers me. My temples start throbbing.

I turn towards her; “and what if I don’t want to move in together?”

It shocks her. It always shocks people. And yes, I know my tone is sharper than it needs to be, but I’m sick and tired of defending my unconventional relationship — mainly because I don’t feel it is unconventional.

Our relationship works for him, and for me.

But even in the futuristic-sounding year of 2022, people still get upset when a relationship doesn’t follow the pattern it is supposed to follow: you meet, you fall in love, you date, you move in together and maybe get married, you have children, you grow old and die together.

About half of the time, this doesn’t work out, so you go through the cycle again. And when it takes you too long to move through the stages, people get confused…

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Judith Victoria
Judith Victoria

Written by Judith Victoria

Essays on life, love, and other lousy stuff. Otherworldly flash fiction & romantic short stories. Failing forward. Perpetually amazed.

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