We got married!

Just a day in the life of a single person swiping online to find my match. I stumbled across a profile of a tall, dark, handsome man with a big smile that caught my attention. In checking out his profile pics, I noticed a familiar face and my curiosity peaked. He must have been mesmerized by beauty, because upon my swipe right I got notification that we had matched... meaning he had already swiped for me and was just sitting around waiting for me to stumble across his profile (lol, ok maybe I'm dramatizing that last part a little, but he had in fact already swiped for me, it instantly matched us and he responded seconds later!). We got to chatting right away about how we both knew this beloved OTF coach, Coach Mom, pictured in his profile. We learned we worked out at the same gym for the past several years having never run across one another. The conversation was easy and fun, so we decided to meet up at the gym that next day. Despite a sweaty workout with a 546 calorie burn and 40 splat point kinda day for me... I must have somehow charmed him because he asked me to meet him for happy hour the very next day! We had our first official date at Lupe Tortilla's for some margaritas on Aug 4th, 2020. We dated for a few months, but then work travel picked up for me and I had to be out of town full time in early Dec. This proved too much so early on, and Erick called it quits on NYE. I returned home after a long 8 weeks, ready for some downtime. As it happened, a friend had mentioned he was going to be working “from home” on the beautiful, sunny beaches of Aruba and was open to visitors. I of course jumped on the opportunity to see a good friend and explore a new place. As with all my travel adventures, I posted on social media to let everyone know I was headed to the beach. It was then I had received a message from Erick letting me know that he too would be in Aruba during Spring break, several days later. I didn’t think much of this, we would be in the same place at the same time but staying in different areas, maybe we would try to meet up, probably not. But then one night while out with my friend checking out this cool creperie, I turned to find Erick standing there. Seemed the universe had intervened. We ended up meeting up a few times during his stay to hang out, it was the start of a beautiful friendship. I resumed work travel shortly after that trip but would pop back into town frequently. We continued to spend time together and eventually with each other’s friends, family and kiddos. Our friendship had grown and by Aug we were officially a couple again. We've had many great adventures together, as we both love travel and exploring new places, cultures and of course foods! We have been to Vegas, Mexico, England, Ireland, Poland, Iceland, Dominican Republic, and most recently to NOLA. Given our love of all things travel, it seemed fitting we would make the official start of our lives together on another grand adventure. I wanted to choose a place that neither of us had been, so that it would special for us both, so New Zealand it is…. because while Antarctica would be an amazing adventure, it’s also cold, like really cold, and Erick has been pretty much everywhere else! ~Crystal

As we are both avid travelers, with AA airline statuses near expiration, we decided to rack up the few extra miles we needed to try to maintain our current status levels, Platinum Pro for myself and Platinum for Crystal. So, we made the decision to escape the Texas winter and head to the warm, sunny skies of the Carribean, me with my injured ankle in a medical boot and all. We were off to the Dominican Republic. Prior to this trip I had been contemplating on proposing to Crystal, I just didn't know the right timing. I was trying to come up with some elaborate scheme(s), but as it turned out, spontaneous proved best in the end. In our days at our Punta Cana resort, I was more convinced than ever that she was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. On our last night there, as we were walking back from the steakhouse on the resort, alone on the beach pathway, under the clear starry night sky, I proposed. However, the initial reaction was not at all what I had expected. In my stunned state, I heard Crystal respond "Thats not f** funny. Don't even joke like that!!" And then she tried to walk away from me! (For context, Crystal had been not so subtly dropping hints for a few months that she was ready for this next step. She was completely caught off guard thinking she would know this was going to happen prior to it actually happening. If you know Crystal, you know she likes to talk things over.... and over again.) It was only when I pulled her back in and asked again that it sank in and she realized it was for real, that I was asking her to be my wife. On January 24th, she said YES, and the rest is history. ~Erick