One fateful day in October, 2024, Sydney’s hairdresser mentioned a podcast about professional matchmakers. Sydney had never heard of such a thing, but did a Google search right then and there, her hair full of highlight foils, and her heart full of dreams. By the end of that appointment, Sydney had an interview call scheduled with a matchmaker, which, interestingly enough, took place while Sydney was at a stopover in, you guessed it, MSP. After a grueling week-long vetting process, Sydney was set up with a matchmaker named Anastasia, and promptly learned there were no men in the entire state of Montana who matched her profile. Expanding the search to cities with direct flights from Missoula, potential matches were found in Denver, Colorado Springs, Spokane, and Minneapolis. Most of the gents looked pretty fine on paper, and Sydney had some interesting Virtual dates. But this one guy in Minneapolis sounded TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE: “Athletic/fit, financially independent, intelligent, kind, caring, curious, genuine, open minded, independent, communicative, and emotionally mature. Very handsome!! Likes traveling, being outdoors, beaches, mountains, hiking, biking, pickleball, playing guitar, basketball, and baseball, and reading.” After nicknaming him “Mister Wonderful”, Sydney told Anastasia this one was worth a flight to Minneapolis to meet in person. Albert and Sydney found each other interesting enough in their one-hour blind date (cut short by Albert’s babysitting gig), they decided to swap phone numbers and continue the conversation the next week. Within two weeks, Albert and Sydney wanted to see each other again, this time for a weekend. And their love grew from there. After two months, Sydney and Albert were fully and exclusively committed to each other, and to spending the rest of their lives together. They became engaged in late January while in Florida for Albert’s baseball tournament. The rest is history in the making.