We met at the beginning of the pandemic, March 2020. My move back to Dallas was official with work and I downloaded the Hinge dating app to see what I was workin' with back home. ;) I had all the intentions of meeting lots of men and going on many dates and having fun back in my favorite city, but the universe had different plans for my future.

I met Alex a couple days after I downloaded Hinge - we started talking and never stopped! Our first date was over FaceTime; we talked for over 3 hours that night and continued to FaceTime multiple times a week there after.

A month later, I flew to Dallas to find an apartment and we officially had our first "in-person" date. It was the strangest first date of my life! We knew everything about each other already, and I remember talking about our travels the whole dinner.

One month later he came to visit me in Colorado and we spent the weekend in Denver and Vail. Three weeks later I packed my car to the brim with everything I owned that would fit and drove 15 hours back to Texas with big plans for my career with EF Tours. Turns out there were also big plans for my life with Alex.

Two years later and travel has become one of our favorite hobbies and a way to spend time together. Despite starting our relationship in a global pandemic, we've managed to travel on close to 20 trips to destinations like Cancun, Turks & Caicos, Hawaii and many cities in the US. We plan to travel far and wide together before starting a family!

If you would've asked me years ago if I thought I would eventually meet my wife on a dating app I would've laughed. But here we are...

Shannon and I met on Hinge in March 2020, she swiped first! Our first conversation was about her having Covid, which initially scared me away! After making sure she was okay, we didn't chat for a few days (I had to get through all the other incoming messages ;) ). Luckily, I decided to message one more time, and we quickly moved from chatting through the dating app to actually texting.

The first 'moment' when I knew there was something truly special about Shannon was when we FaceTime'd for the first time. I couldn't tell you one thing we talked about specifically - but I can tell you that after a 3 hour FaceTime late into the night, I was giddy and grinning ear to ear.

A couple months later Shannon visited Dallas from Denver to find an apartment to live in. By this point, we knew just about everything about each other except what we actually looked like in person. I have to admit, I was as nervous as I've ever been to actually meet her in person. I played over and over in my head the first thing I would say to her and envisioned how I would make the first move to have our first kiss. When we finally met in person, Shannon made it easy on me, literally walking up to me and planting one on my lips before I could even get a word out. At first, I was selfishly mad because I wanted to be the one who made the move, but looking back it was an awesome first moment and made our first date one to remember.

Since then, Shannon and I have been full steam ahead. We've had so many amazing experiences and have accomplished so much over the past couple of years. Travel, concerts, Gato Vlad Shay, getting engaged, buying our first home - there are just too many memories to count. I am so lucky to have found someone who goes just as hard as I do with everything - even though admittedly our new favorite hobby is to tell each other we need to slow down and rest / relax every once in awhile.

Shannon - I love you so much and can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together!