Tijo & Shannon

Rosemont, IL

Tijo & Shannon

Rosemont, IL

Our Story

HIS VERSION

Where do I begin? It all started off on the infamous Indian dating app, Dil Mil. I knew the moment that I swiped right on this cute Florida girl whose bio was “Nurse, Kna Catholic” that she was potential wifey material. Shannon and I had matched sometime in November of 2020, but at the time I was preoccupied with my new ICU job and had just gotten off orientation and was finally on my own. Early December, once things settled down a bit, I decided to shoot my shot and slid into her Dil Mil DMs. Thank God that I did. Initially, we immediately bonded over the fact that we were both nurses. Shannon was so easy to talk to and she seemed so well-balanced. She seemed to be family-oriented and cultured. At this point we were texting nonstop, and I am falling hard for her. I knew I had to somehow take it to the next level, so after working at the hospital one day I texted her and asked if she wanted to keep me company on the car ride back. I was hoping she didn’t think it was too soon to talk on the phone, but God was on my side, and we talked all the way home and then some. Soon phone calls turned to FaceTime Video Calls, but this wasn’t enough. I knew I had to lock down this gem, but how? When would I even see her? Long distance relationships only work if you go see the person. So in order to visit Shannon I needed some sort of excuse to fly to Florida. My cousin Jeffin, who at the time was working on his Bachelor’s Degree in Florida, was the solution. Going to visit Jeffin was the perfect excuse. I spent half my trip with Shannon and the other half of the trip with my cousin Jeffin. At this point the nickname that Shannon and I called each other was “Bubba”. The first place Shannon and I went together was the World’s Most Famous Beach, (Daytona Beach) and while parking we saw a building with a big green sign that read “BUBBA’S”. This turned out to be the place where we took our first photo together. We both took this as another sign from God. Before the trip came to an end on March 6th, 2021 I made things official with Shannon and asked her to be my girlfriend and the rest is history.

HER VERSION

It all started November of 2020. I started doing a novena to St. Jude and I followed the instructions and said it 6 times a day for 9 consecutive days leaving 9 copies in church each day. My intention was to help me find my person in life. At this point, I graduated from nursing school, passed my boards, and I was just waiting for my residency program to begin at the hospital. I downloaded Dil Mil about a month before and after passing through several profiles and unsuccessful matches I was getting ready to delete the app, when I received a notification that I got a new match. Similar to most people, I did some quick social media stalking and thought to myself “Hmm, he’s pretty cute.” One thing that stood out to me was that he had photos with his family and he seemed like a pretty family oriented guy which was always important to me. I remember feeling really excited and I couldn’t wait for him to message me. Well guess what? A day went by and he didn’t message then another day then a week went by and nothing. I definitely knew I didn’t want to make the first move so assuming that he was probably talking to someone else, I was again ready to delete the app when bam! He sends me a message that says “Hey, Shannon, what’s up? I see that you’re also a nurse. Do you work with Covid patients too?” Keep in mind, this was the 9th and final day of the novena. We texted back and forth and we had a connection like no other. He was so easy to talk to and I felt so comfortable with him. I realized how different yet how similar we were. Then a few months later we decided to meet up in person so Tijo flew to Florida and I went to go pick him up. I was really nervous because I couldn’t help but think what if we didn’t have that connection in person? I was wrong. The craziest part was that Tijo & I usually call each other bubba and our very first photo that we took with each other had a “Bubbas” sign in the background. At that point I knew I found the one and I can’t thank St. Jude enough for this big blessing of mine. I am so grateful and I can’t wait to marry my best friend.