Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tamara and Kareem enjoy watching son Khyus grow. They are hoping to add another baby soon.

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There’s no greater feeling than the love of family, and when one meets Kareem and Tamara Boyce, the love between them is palpable and cannot be ignored.

The young couple have been married for just shy of two months after winning the Nation’s 2018 Forever I Do competition.

Their life together over the last six years, their “proposal” and their wedding make it clear that nothing about them is traditional. But the one thing that is true is their love for each other and their two-year-old son Khyus Boyce.

The couple met while students at Alleyne School – Kareem a senior and Tamara a junior. The friendship that emerged was strictly platonic, according to Tamara.

But after a number of years, they reconnected and the sparks started to fly.

“We were just friends. I knew his family before him. We reconnected at a Crop Over event. Then while I was overseas completing my studies at St Augustine campus he reached out to me, that was in 2012 – and we got together in February 2013,” Tamara recalled.

Kareem said that after getting to know her more and observing her attributes, he knew quickly that she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

“There was a time she was in the Parish Ambassador competition and I was observing her. We were taking a trip to one of the events she had to attend and her parents were in the car. The relationship they had spoke a lot to me and how I want my family to be and so on. I knew if she was like that with her family, just completely herself, I knew she was the one for me,” he said, squeezing his wife’s shoulder.

They dated for four years. Tamara said she knew pretty early on in the relationship that Kareem was the one for her.

“I knew Kareem was the one from during our courting phase. I saw a lot of strong attributes. He was really helpful, I saw him putting others before himself and he was a very focused individual. He knew what he wanted and always sought to get it. Family and marriage were very important to him as well and that meant a lot to me,” she added.

After their son Khyus came into the world, Kareem, 32, and Tamara, 29, knew it was time to take the next step in their relationship. But the “proposal” was anything but traditional. In fact, Kareem never actually got on one knee and popped the question.

“We had a family get-together during Christmas two years ago and it was our son’s first Christmas, so both our families were there. As our families meshed, we reflected on the day and how seamlessly it happened. It really was a perfect day . . . . We then made the decision to get married right then and there,” Kelvin explained.

The couple said they lived together for the majority of their relationship, so they knew marriage was the next step.

They made the decision on December 26, 2017, entered the Forever I Do competition in February 2018, won and were married on December 26, 2018, at Harrison’s Cave. It was the wedding of their dreams.

“For us, the wedding we very personal. It was a case of us putting our own unique touch on it. Everything was linking our likes together. My dress was champagne with his favourite colour purple and my favourite colour turquoise blue. It was a very close-knit wedding. Everything was planned around our personalities,” Tamara revealed.

Kareem told EASY magazine the wedding was unique just as he wanted it.

“We did personal vows. The way how we did the ceremony wasn’t traditional at all. We had the bridal party facing the crowd as opposed to backing. The reverend backed the crowd and spoke to us as he pronounced us man and wife. It was different and nice,” he explained.

Life for the couple hasn’t really changed since officially tying the knot. But they admitted that they are enjoying life even more now.

“Nothing has changed. We have lived together most of our relationship so we are always around each other. We travel together, go on dates and so on. For us marriage was the right thing to do because we believed in God and we wanted to be committed and do the right thing before God. One thing we do is continue to learn and understand each other. When we argue we don’t walk away, we deal with it,” Tamara said.

She added, “Right now we are building our own home and hoping to have another baby soon. We are just looking forward to building life together as a team and creating the family we always dreamed of. It won’t be perfect, but we want it to be great.”

Kareem said he is looking forward to spending the rest of his life with the woman of his dreams and building a beautiful life together.

Of course, challenges do come but they both said that knowing that they are in the relationship for the long haul helped them get through the rough times. “The most challenging part for me was the beginning of the relationship. Although I knew he was the person I wanted to be with, we had personality clashes and our heads would butt sometimes. It was also challenging because of my strong personality. When I met Kareem I realised he was the person I needed to be with, so I had to be patient and work at it every day,” Tamara said.

Kareem added, “We are both strong-willed people. So in the beginning we were always trying to figure out what worked and what didn’t. And I’m a firm believer that if something is worth fighting for, you have to fight. So for me it was navigating through the relationship and doing what I could do to make it better. Every day I thank God for her and I’m glad she’s mine.”

Tamara stressed that she could be an example to young people and show them that love and good marriages still existed and that there was nothing wrong with committing to one person for the rest of your life.

She encouraged young people to give marriage a shot once they find the right person.

“Usually growing up you would hear that young people aren’t interested in marriage, but I don’t believe in that. I think people would say that if they aren’t around people who are getting married. Being in the competition showed me that there are a lot of young people out there fighting for marriage. Time doesn’t matter. Everyone’s timing is different. If you find that person you want to be with, you have to start somewhere, so just do it and work hard at it every day and never give up. Put God first in everything that you do. Don’t allow other people in your marriage,” she said.

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