Mark and I met online at the end of January 2021. Yes, I know you have many questions—one in particular: Why online? Well, that's another story we must get into another day.

When we first met, we would call each other on the phone every day, almost every hour until bedtime, to talk and get to know each other since we were giving it one last shot at dating. All the others seemed to want something more than what we wanted. Our first date was on February 6th, 2021, during COVID, so there weren't many other things to do or places to go. So we did something unconventional (now hang on... I did take a picture of his license plate and his driver's license, for safety reasons, and sent both pictures to my mom—you're welcome, Mom!) and met at a public place, getting a hotel room so that we could talk and get to know each other. We then walked down the street to a local pub to grab something for dinner since the hotel restaurant was closed to guests due to the pandemic.

After that day, we continued to call each other on the phone until our second date, which was the following week, then the third week, and then the fourth week. (You see how this is panning out.)

On February 21st, I was the first to say I love you. 🤟

We continued to go out on dates every weekend for quite some time until about mid-April, when we finally decided to introduce each other to our parents. Mark's family came first, followed by my mom. Mark eventually met my sister and my nephews, and I also got to meet his sisters and his Pops. All in all, everybody loved both of us.

Fast forward to August 2022, when Mark and I became engaged 💍 (we were at another wedding at the time; figures, right? Some engagements happen at someone else's wedding, right?). But we didn’t announce it to anybody until September the following month. In January 2024, we finally announced our engagement, with a wedding date set for September 6th, 2025. Yes, I know it's been a very long engagement, but who's counting..? Not me, and Mark certainly isn’t. We are both happy and love each other very much. It doesn't bother us how long it takes as long as we love each other and have each other's backs.

And this concludes our story. ❤️📖

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