This gay couple’s real-life ’50 First Dates’ love story will bring you to tears
Mitchell and Loren are taking over TikTok with their powerful queer love story.
Mark
This gay couple’s relationship is a real-life 50 First Dates meets The Notebook, and they’re taking over TikTok with their powerful love story.
Mitchell Metz and his partner, Loren, had been together for seven years when Loren (who had experienced health issues over the past few years) suffered a stroke that left him hospitalized in a nursing home.
He was diagnosed with dementia and later developed kidney failure, leading to his needing to be on dialysis. That’s when Metz got the idea to surprise him and share their story with the internet.
How about we take this to the next level?
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“Come with me to surprise my partner,” he told his followers. “He has dementia, and every time I visit, he forgets that I was just there, so each visit feels brand new to him.”
Watch.
In the first video he shared back in June, Metz explained that it was his first time visiting Loren, 59, and 28 years his senior, in nearly three months.
“I let my grief, fear, and heartbreak isolate me from him over the last couple weeks,” he wrote. “But I decided I was not going to let that stop me from making new memories with him, despite our isolation and obstacles.”
As the heartwarming clip showed, Loren recognized him instantly. Metz patiently reminded him that he has dementia and is at an assisted living facility in Ridgecrest, California.
Within days, the video went viral on TikTok and Instagram, where commenters shared emotional responses, experiences with dementia in their own families, and ideas on how to document their love story.
“Sir, it’s 7 am, I don’t need to be crying this early,” one user wrote, while another called it “so beautiful and gut wrenching.”
As Metz continued the series, his videos racked up millions of views — and he got even more creative.
On his second visit, Metz put aside his social anxiety to don a rooster onesie, bursting in his partner’s room with a “Cock-a-doodle-doo, how are you?”
Naturally, Loren remarked: “Holy sh*t, is this a dream?” LOL.
But that was only the start; other installments have shown Metz wearing wigs, bringing along their cat Bisquick, and surprising him with favorite meals and gifts.
(In one video, Loren even asks him to “bend over so I can stick this up your butt” after receiving flowers, and jokes that “the last time we had sex was terrible.” LOL.)
It’s hard not to feel emotional watching their videos, especially for those who’ve experienced the devastating effects of dementia in their own families.
In Metz’s most recent video, Surprise Day 23, it appeared that Loren forgot who he was for a moment, until he said, “You’ve never left me.”
“I’ve never left you,” Metz told him in response. “I’ve been with you every day, even if you don’t remember.”
Loren replied, “Mitchell Metz, the partner I fell in love with [a] long time ago.”
Cue the tears!
That said, sharing their story and his grief is helping both Metz and his followers.
“Doing this has really helped me mature and has helped me face the reality of this and be there for him,” he explained in a video, adding that while it won’t “change my entire life,” TikTok has helped him “deal with my emotions [and] have made me a better person.”
Furthermore, it’s an indisputable testament to the power of queer love.
“Show this to anyone who says being gay is a choice,” one user wrote on Instagram.
“This poor man’s entire mind is slipping away and he still recognizes love in another man. Not only is it not a choice, it’s a deeply fundamental part of who we are.”
Watch along with their touching love story below.
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