We actually met on Bumble of all things! Lisa had been dating for a bit and was like okay universe there has to be someone out there that meets my seemingly undoable wishlist of a man. Meanwhile, I was feeling the same way, and so frustrated with this online dating app thing I was ready to throw in the towel and quit.

But it was rare to be without my kiddos on a Saturday night - so I took a risk and reached out to the one person on Bumble that I had been wanting to meet. She seemed genuine and beautiful and there was just something special about her. So I took a risk and reached out to her to see if she could meet for dinner on short notice. Plus, I even said - I can’t stay out late because I need to get up at 4:30 AM the next morning to take my daughter to a volleyball tournament. Then she said YES!

So we met at Havana’s a Cuban Tapas Restaurant in Walnut Creek, CA. I got there a little bit early and got us a cute table with a good view of where the salsa band was setting up.

From the moment that she walked in we both smiled and hugged and sat down. She was a beautiful tall drink of water (but I am not afraid of heights LOL). Then the most amazing first date unfolded before us and it was absolutely magical!

Right from the start there were so many things we were in sync on.

The waiter came over to introduce himself - and he said, “Hi my name is Arturo”....

I called out “Arrrrtuuuuroooooo” in reference to a scene in the movie “Overboard” with Goldie Hann and Kurt Russel.

Lisa (keep in mind we JUST met) said Katarina Katarina… and again I said Artuuuuroooooo!

The waiter laughed and had no clue what we were referencing. BUT WE BOTH KNEW THE MOVIE REFERENCE!

We kept having so much in common. We were both adopted. Were are both musicians. We got got all of each others quirky references and jokes.

We sang together. We got up and started dancing and twirling between the tables to the live salsa music.

We even had a moment where we snuggled and she put her head on my shoulder and said out loud - oh this feels right somehow…. I was beaming.

We laughed and snuggled and talked late into the night. I didn’t get home until 2:30am! But, still running on adrenaline from this date - I got up at 4:30AM the next morning and picked up my daughter and made it to the tournament on time. I was floating on cloud nine and was not even tired.

From there - we kept having amazing dates and quickly grew closer and closer.

We both knew we had found something really special.

It didn’t take long for us both to realize, it had taken each of us about 50 years to finally find our soulmate.

There is so much more to tell - but we want to make sure it fits on this website - so we will tell you the rest in person next September ;-)

Registry