Piper Phillips with her parents Rob and Verena.Photo:Piper Phillips
Piper Phillips
True love comes in many forms, but sometimes it’s simply served best with a cup of coffee.
Piper Phillipsgot a peek at her parents’ decades-spanning connection while she and her mother, Verena, were flying home after a trip to Florida. The23-year-old content creatorrecorded a precious interaction between her mom and dad and posted it online for her followers to see.
“Accidentally read my dad’s text to my mom while flying home from my grandparents’,” Phillips captioned hereight-second TikTok video, which showed messages on her mom’s phone screen.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Phillips' father, Rob, texted, “Would you like an iced oat milk latte waiting for you in the car when I pick you up?”
“You are so sweet,” Verena typed in reply.
Phillips summed up their wholesome exchange in just a few words: “To be loved is to be known,” she wrote in overlaying text, though she tells PEOPLE it’s not a phrase she or her parents have used before.
“It was just the little thing of him anticipating her needs and wants, knowing that her habits are getting a coffee when she lands after a long flight. Knowing a person so well is just such a true form of love,” Phillips says of her now-viral video, which has over 493,000 likes and 6.8 million views on TikTok.
Rob, Piper and Verena Phillips.Piper Phillips
“That’s the kind of love I’m looking for,” one user said, adding, “She’s got a good one!”
Another person commented, “This, or nothing! Don’t settle ladies.”
Rob and Verena Phillips.Piper Phillips
“I can imagine that if people grew up with divorced parents, or grew up in a household where the parents weren’t really affectionate to each other, it can be hard to not have that model of love,” she says, adding, “It makes me really happy that people are seeing the video and realizing their own worth and that everyone deserves to be loved like that.”
Other viewers questioned why Rob didn’t ask his daughter if she wanted a coffee too, but Phillips' journey didn’t end when they landed in Chicago, where her parents live. If she didn’t have a connecting flight to her current home in New York City, Phillips says her dad would’ve definitely added to the order.
“Our love language is Starbucks. I’m not even kidding,” says Phillips, who has two brothers. “My family just loves to get coffee and talk.”
Piper Phillips' parents' text exchange.Piper Phillips
Beyond coffee, the influencer tells PEOPLE she’s witnessed her parents express their love in many languages throughout her life. She’s grateful to have grown up around examples of a strong partnership, like how Verena always shows up when Rob — who works as a lawyer and plays the drums as a side gig — performs with his band.
In fact, Verena even brings her girlfriends along to hear her husband’s music, Phillips says.
“They’ll be dancing out on the floor, even though my mom has heard these songs a billion times,” she says. “It’s so cute to see both of them support each other equally.”
“My parents have become big cruise people,” Phillips says. “My mom loves to travel … and my dad likes comfort, so they found that the cruises are a really good, happy medium for them.”
source: people.com
