Rachel and I had our first date in Boston at Delux Café. I will always remember Rachel when she walked into that bar. She was beautiful and confident. I felt a bit out of my league and I honestly thought she would want to leave the date as soon as she could. I remember thinking ‘Okay, we’ll just have one drink and I’ll grab the check so she can carry on’. To my surprise, she asked the waitress for a second drink and the conversation continued as well. After a seemingly mutual positive experience, we continued our dates through the fall of 2019.

Back then, I was living in Georgia and commuting to Boston for work. My plan, however, was to move to Portland, Maine-a place I had grown to love during my time working in New England. Portland, Maine is NOT Boston, Massachusetts where Rachel was living (a two hour drive away). Rachel made sure I knew that. In any event, my job kept me traveling to Boston so we were able to continue dating until “the talk”.

The talk went something like this: “You don’t live here (Boston) and you have a dog (Abner, the BEST BOY)”...she continued... “I’m not sure how this will work”-paraphrased.

Fast forward to the third week in March 2020 and Rachel told her mother that she was going to spend time with a “friend” in Portland. To be clear, she used “friend”, not “boyfriend” and her mother has the text messages they exchanged to prove it. Rachel and I were on the official relationship fast track from then on. When up was down and down was up, she was the best partner I could have asked for. And, over time, both Rachel and Abner came to love each other, too.