Lana started working at GT in February, but I didn’t really get to meet her in person until the GT tax tiki boat party in August. When I got there, I went woah… that’s the new recruiter?? Even though I had never really wanted to date someone from work, we started talking and I was instantly attracted to her funny and bubbly personality.

As the event continued people began leaving and eventually it was just the two of us talking for a few hours. I could tell I was into her by the pure fact that I offered to get season tickets to Playhouse Square. Soon after we went to leave and her uber arrived. I quickly realized my phone was dead (shocker I know) and had to ask if I could get a ride in her uber. Little did she know, that would not be the last time she’d hear from me “hey my phone is dead.”

The next day I knew I was very into her but a smidge worried I came on too strong for a co-worker. A few weeks later though she asked me to fill in for a recruiting event and I realized I luckily didn’t ruin my chance. At the recruiting event we again had great conversation for several hours. That same day I had a partner call and ask if I could fill in for him at a fundraising event and that I needed to let them know who my guest would be within 30 min. I instantly thought of inviting Lana however was worried of her being creeped out. So when I asked via Teams, I over-explained about how I thought she’d want to meet more people in the firm and even went so far as to say “not asking as a date”.

I was still thinking of it as a half date, but when she showed up to the event (looking stunning) she quickly let me know she was glad I said it wasn’t a date because she had a no dating coworkers policy. I was a little bummed but was excited to have a fun night at the event. Little did I know I was about to learn a very valuable lesson in that paddle at live auctions are not toys.

During the live auction, I told Lana how I always wanted to be one of the first bidders when there was no risk of winning. So when I heard the last item go off I raised my paddle as the second bid having no idea what the price was or the item. When the auctioneer said “going once” I instantly knew I made a massive mistake and was soon the proud owner of a Hawaiian romantic getaway for two. All of the partners at the table thought was the funniest thing they have ever seen and I was sweating bullets.

Although I had just made the largest purchase of my life (outside of my home) we had an incredible night and went out with her friends after the event. After that night I was hooked.

I instantly started making many more trips to office kitchen for coffee so I could chat with her on my way and made sure I didn’t miss any Happy Hours she attended. Although she had told me about her rule, I felt like I was getting some signals that it might not be fully true. Eventually after the second HH we were both two left at I finally made my move.

In the next few months we hung out sporadically, but talked daily and my trips to office kitchen continued to rise. In December, she asked if I had plans on her birthday and I knew I had to plan something great. We went to Hamilton and had a wonderful night and I was fully bought in.

Shortly after I realized the no dating coworker policy was more serious than I thought and something she felt very strongly about. We decided to no longer see each other romantically. At that time I was bummed but I respected her decision. Even though we were no longer going to be dating, I still cherished our friendship and didn’t want to walk away from that.

So over the next few months we continued to talk almost daily and our friendship grew. Although the rule was still in place I kept feeling like I was getting hints that maybe it wouldn’t that be that way forever.

Eventually we ended up getting drinks after the GT 4/15 party and then started officially dating about a month after that. Once we did start dating we never looked back. 7 months later we were on that Hawaii trip that I accidentally won and fully in love.

When sitting shell shocked after I won the trip, I had no idea that I would be going with my future wife, best friend, and partner. But I could not be happier that I raised that paddle and decided to ask the new recruiter to come join me at the event.