During COVID, I moved out of my East Village apartment to my parents' house in upstate NY to wait out the pandemic. After a few months of boredom, I downloaded Bumble, convinced I'd only come across boys I went to high school with. A few swipes in, I was shocked to find Joe: a hot, successful, athletic army veteran... and completely my type.
We often say the stars aligned for us that day, because Joe just happened to be visiting family in the area; he actually lived an hour away in Connecticut. To this day, we're grateful that our virtual paths happened to overlap at that exact moment in time, a tiny twist of fate and timing that changed both of our lives forever.
I opened the conversation with a "thank you for your service" and a flag emoji, and he responded that night. Two days later, we went on our first date — drinks and cheesecake at my hometown diner — and then spent the next three days together, getting creative with outdoor COVID dates amid lockdown restrictions. From the very beginning, it was just easy being with him. We clicked immediately, and we both knew we’d found our person. I met Joe’s entire family on date three, and the rest is history.
