'I just feel safe': Platonic partnerships becoming more common. It works for these FL women

They’re ambitious, they’re active, they’re happy and they’re single.

Naples, Florida, residents Patty Kulak, 28, and Marissa Baker, 31, have been best friends since 2021 after the two bonded over their divorces and became each other’s biggest support system. Kulak and Baker, who are not only best friends but also roommates, refer to their relationship as a “platonic life partnership."

Originally from New Jersey, Kulak lacked a support system when going through her divorce and “chose” Baker to boost her morale. Only six months later, Baker went through her own divorce and, seeking a new place to live, the friends decided that moving in together would be the perfect option.

'We created this safe environment'

“Upon moving in together, it was immediate. There was really good communication and I think that’s where the partnership comes in. That’s what we both lacked with our ex-spouses,” said Baker, regional manager at Paradise Coast Sports Complex and also a life coach, author and podcast host.

"On day one, we created this safe environment where everyone gets to speak and everyone gets to feel whatever they feel.”

Family life continues to evolve in U.S.

There's no statistics yet on platonic partnerships, but the number of married people fell from 67% in 1990 to 53% in 2019, an analysis by the Pew Research Center showed.

More and more, single women in the U.S. own more homes than single men, with single women owning 58% of homes belonging to unmarried Americans, the study said.

Additionally, Pew 2021 analysis of census data found that “as relationships, living arrangements and family life continue to evolve for American adults, a rising share are not living with a romantic partner.”

What is a platonic partnership?

Some misconceptions exist about platonic partnerships. It's basically a committed relationship to a person that does not include romance or sex.

Cyndi Darnell, a certified clinical sexologist, therapist and couples counselor, who said in a previous USA TODAY story that platonic partnerships can "absolutely" be as successful as a traditional marriage, because "partnership is based on shared values."

Darnell said in the story that relying on "something as unreliable as romance for a contract as heavy as co-parenting and marriage seems to be why these things seem to be diametrically opposed on some level."

And stigmas associated with domestic partnerships exist, as some say it's not a real relationship. Some partners also choose to get "platonically married" while others do not.

Platonic partnerships are at their core committed relationships, where two people enjoy each other's company. They share responsibilities common in more traditional relationships such as raising children and merging finances.

“After a divorce, finances may be a reason why people would want to have a roommate, and it’s just easier if you have a roommate to share experiences with,” said Olga Molina, an associate professor at the University of Central Florida School of Social Work, whose specialties include divorce.

“Close to 50% of couples end up divorced and increasingly, the last 20 years or so, people are getting divorced at younger ages, so it’s a trend and it’s frequent that people get divorced early on. The divorce experience can bring people together and they can find commonality of different experiences that they have gone through.”

Learning curve for Kulak, Baker

For Kulak and Baker, the transition hasn't been seamless. The friends expressed that there was a significant learning curve in living together but navigating the experience has helped them both grow substantially.

“I used to turn onto my street and have immediate anxiety in my stomach because I didn’t want to go home with my ex-husband; things were just toxic and bad,” said Kulak, a city of Naples planner.

“Now I almost want to speed up to get home faster because I have a genuine connection with somebody that I could talk about anything and everything with, without any type of judgment. I just feel safe.”

Baker and Kulak have had a “smooth transition” into their unconventional living style, finding many shared interests and goals.

“We have a lot of similarities. We like personal development, we like working out, we want to drink tea together on the balcony, we want to be in bed by 8:30 p.m. We just complemented each other really well,” Baker said.

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'More than one path to happiness'

The two also have benefitted financially amidst the state’s housing crisis. Kulak, who owns a house atop a 3-acre property in Collier County, Florida, said that she couldn’t afford to maintain her home by herself so having Baker to share bills with has taken financial weight off her shoulders.

Baker and Kulak, both divorcées before the age of 30, now approach the dating world with new perspectives and no longer prioritize love and romance as a means of happiness. The friends said that they have learned from each other how they deserve to be treated and have no plans to change their current circumstances.

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“Where do we see this being in five years? The answer to that is exactly the same. We still plan to be together in this partnership in five years," Baker said. “There’s more than one path to happiness.”

“When you can’t find that happiness, you can create it," Kulak said. "We couldn’t find it in a marriage, but we created it in a partnership for life and it’s a really good place to be."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Platonic partnership: 2 Florida women example of popular option in US