Kyle's Story: I had been working 7 days a week for quite some time. Between teaching, coaching, city council, and the restaurant, I didn't honestly think I would find anyone. I decided since I wasn't being successful at meeting people the old fashioned way, I would try online dating. Repeated first date disasters and "ghostings" had caused me to almost give up. I accepted defeat and was about to deactivate my account. Until one day, I received a message from Elaina Johnson. We started chatting and we instantly hit it off. The problem was that I was still working 7 days a week and she lived in Hudson. After weeks of talking over the phone, I realized that if I wanted to make this work, I needed to make a change. I quit coaching and asked her on a date. We met at a dive bar halfway between Hudson and Mora. Our first date didn't feel like a first date. The chemistry was already there and the hours flew by. After our first date, I talked to my sister-in-law, Emma, and told her that there was something special about Elaina. Elaina's Story: Between working full time and grad school, I tried online dating (unsuccessfully) to meet someone. I had talked to my mom about my dating life and expressed my frustration with today's dating pool. Right before Kyle and I met, I had just moved back to my parents house before student teaching. My mom and I were on our way up to the cabin and I was driving. She had asked if she could look at my dating sites and would describe the guys she thought I would be interested in. I would tell her yay or nay. We were just hitting the St. Cloud area when she told me she found a guy she thought I'd be interested in. She read me his profile and I may have yelled at her to send him a message before we left the area (once you leave a person's preferred distance, you lose the match on online dating). We talked for a long time over the phone before meeting. When we finally met, it felt like we had known each other for years. I had always imagined the man I would eventually marry fit easily into my family. After our second date, I went home and told my mom, "I think the boys would actually like this guy." Our story: Mondays became our date nights and we continued to bounce between Mora, North Branch, and Hudson. After a few short months of dating, Elaina finished her Master's program and was looking for teaching jobs. She found a job in the Cambridge area, which is 1 hour from Hudson. We felt like it was too far of a drive for her to make everyday so she and I spent weeks looking for places for her to live closer to me but still in her own place. Unfortunately, we were running into 2 issues. 1. There wasn't a lot available in the area. 2. What was available was either overpriced or a health hazard. We spent the next week talking about the potential of her maybe moving in with me. We were worried since we were still fairly new but we set up a plan incase things between us went south. She set aside some bailout money in case we broke up and she had to move. We moved in together in November and have been living together ever since. Since moving in together, we have experienced more than some couples can say that they have experienced in their entire lives together. The death of a family member, an international family vacation, the death of a pet, new jobs, health scares, a trip to Chicago, and many, many more. Through it all, Elaina and I have grown stronger together. People who met us are surprised to learn that we have only been together for a short time. We act like we have been together for 20+ years. Elaina and I were made for each other and it shows.