I met Ryan in August of 2021. After another summer of pandemics and lockdowns, my brother, Patrick, was the one who suggested the dating app, Hinge. I never thought I would be interested in dating apps, but I decided to try it out.

I spent the next few weeks carefully weeding out and eliminating potential dates, but quickly became most interested in one. Ryan was the first guy I met for a Hinge date, and luckily would be the last.

When we met for the first time, I was instantly caught off guard. Ryan arrived not on time, but early (And he somehow looked even better than his pictures!). We ordered coffees and suddenly our short meet-up turned into a 6 hour+ long date including a walk and going out to dinner… (Our poor waitress came back to our table several times asking us if we were ready to order- we kept forgetting to stop talking to look at our menus).

That night, Ryan asked me for a second date before walking me to my car, and I was sure I’d love to see him again. (I was right).

Ryan and I later found out that we had more in common than we had initially realized. After college, Ryan moved to Chicago and lived in my grandmother’s neighborhood (also where both of my parents grew up). Over the past few years, I had unknowingly driven right by his apartment on a regular basis.

During this time, Ryan had also attended several masses at my grandmother’s parish, St. Edwards Catholic Church. This is also where I attended mass with my family for several holidays, masses, and where several of my family members, including my paternal grandparents, parents, and older sister had gotten married.

We found it funny to think that we had been living so close to one another for years, shopping at the same Target location, and driving in the same areas, and wondered if we had ever unknowingly walked passed one another in an aisle, or drove by one another on the street.

After all of these years, I’m forever grateful that I finally found Ryan: an amazing story-teller, random-fact knower, best friend, mechanic, handyman, chef, dog-lover, coffee-lover, drummer, family-oriented, and better future husband than I could have imagined for myself (even though he had somehow been right in front of me for years!).

Here's to the picnics, Netfilx binges, impromptu 5-mile walks, 40+ new coffee shops, dog park visits, exploring new neighborhoods, breweries, traveling, and so much more.

Looking forward to our next chapter… and coffees.