Ryan and I met the typical way a lot of people meet these days on a dating app, bumble. We swiped, matched, and started chatting. After chatting for a couple weeks, we decided we should grab a drink. I was living in Raleigh at the time and Ryan was living in Durham, so he asked me round about where I lived and he would suggest a place near me… what a gentleman. He suggested J Alexander’s that Friday and the date was set. Little did Ryan know J Alexander’s was pretty much right across the street from my apartment, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. I mean I was meeting up with someone from the internet. As Friday evening approaches, there are some typical first date nerves. I get to the restaurant early for some predate wine. I’m waiting at the bar drinking my wine and I get a text from Ryan saying he is running late because of the rain and traffic coming from Durham. We laugh about it now because Ryan later admitted to me, he didn’t think I would show for our first date (I have no idea why) and that he was off that day, but he was still late. He arrived and we immediately start talking about things we liked to do, our families, jobs, etc. We talked for hours. Before we knew it, we were dancing to beach music by our cars after the restaurant had closed. We ended up hanging out Saturday night and Sunday night and we have been together ever since. The rest is history.