The year after college I started watching the How I Met Your Mother series. If you've never watched the show, it's about Ted – a man in NYC who's looking for love in all the wrong places. The story follows him looking back on his love life, telling his kids how he met their mother – how they should have met so many times but just missed each other each time. I watched that show, hoping that something like that would happen to me, but telling myself that was fairly impossible. There were no more eligible Christian young men out there, I decided – so I settled into the idea of becoming a delightful cat lady who would be a relentless advocate for singles in the church (still a life goal that I intend to carry out).

And then in January of 2016 I met Dave.

Dave and I are a real life How I Met Your Mother story. We grew up in the same small area of Massachusetts, went to the same high school, had many of the same friends, but never met until after we had both gone to college out of state, moved back home, and started jobs. Dave had even gone to my high school graduation to see his friend Ryan graduate – and I had walked to the graduation stage with Ryan. After college, he went on vacation to Florida with that same Ryan, my best friend Leeann, and the couple who eventually set us up – Allison and Ben.

Shortly after New Year's in 2016, Allison came over to my house for one of our regular crafting parties. In the midst of talking, she asked if I was still single. I said, "Shockingly – yes" (Not bitter AT ALL). She said she knew this solid Christian guy who was also single – and really smart, and funny. And basically Prince Charming. She asked if she could give him my number. I said sure.

A couple weeks later, Dave called and we decided to meet up for breakfast (because that is the best meal). On January 30^th, we went out to breakfast at the South Street Diner in Westborough. We hit it off right away – we talked about mission trips, college pranks, books we like, movies – Dave is so easy to talk with. I was surprised – here was a solid Christian guy who was cute, funny, and somehow unattached. It was a miracle. Breakfast turned into lunchtime. We were there until 2:40PM – and probably would have gotten lunch after that, but I had some errands to run.

We've basically been inseparable ever since. Lots of people have told me "when you know, you know" – and I never really believed them, but it's true – I think Dave and I knew we were meant to be together almost from that very first date. I thank God every day for bringing Dave into my life – he's the perfect guy for me, though I didn't think that the "perfect guy" existed for a long time.

The moral of the story is:

1. God has a bigger, better plan than we can conceive of - and,

2. Set up your friends with people you think they will like. It works out sometimes. They will thank you later. :)