After I moved to Minneapolis, I decided to give online dating a real shot for 6 months. I was in the final week or so when I swiped right on a good-looking, Christian guy named Ben. After a week of promptly responding to his messages, he asked for my phone number. A sign of interest, I hoped. Later, he told me he asked for my number because I was the worst online dater and he wanted more than one response every 72 hours. "There's no way I ever took more than 24 hours to respond!", I argued. After 9 months of banter, we made a bet - which he lost when I contacted Bumble for our transcript. We exchanged text messages for about a month and met for our first date on July 16, 2022. After the date, I left feeling excited, like there was potential while thinking to myself "this dude showed up in a swimsuit, an Amazon Prime t-shirt and a Rolex...that's my guy".

I really hoped she was going to be hot. Full transparency, I arrived to our date about 40 minutes early and hid around the corner so that I would be able to confirm if she was hot when she walked up. Turns out, she was very hot. On that very first date, I remember feeling a unique chemistry with Steph - a feeling that I knew was special. Despite the fact that I ordered a chocolate donut with sprinkles for breakfast, she agreed to see me again, and I am so grateful she did!