We must give credit where credit is due: our dear friend Alex Hindley is the connection point. Alex and John know one another through Aikido; Alex and Katherine are friends from Chicago. When John was newly single Alex asked what he could do, to which John replied, facetiously, "Nothing, unless you know an attractive, fun woman in her early 30's..."

"I got you!" Alex replied.

We actually met at Alex and Bitty's wedding 6 months later in September 2018. And about one month after that, John having found a reason to be in Chicago, we met for our first date. Waiting for an available table at High Five Rame, we wandered into a champaign bar where seemed to disappear as we got to know one another. After a bowl of ramen and some sake, the rest is history.