January 2020 – I matched with a girl named Savannah on the Hinge dating app. As I looked through her photos, I came across one of a girl in black workout gear, standing on top of a mountain with her arms reached out, holding a Starbucks drink in one hand and a mouthful of the bagel she was eating in the other. I thought to myself, if this girl posted this photo, she must be a really outgoing and funny person. I decided I wanted to meet her. I sent her a message. A few days went by and nothing. I figured she wasn’t interested and I moved on to the next match. A few boring, went nowhere, dates later… June 5th 2020 – Text from Mom – “My friend Katie is friends with this young girl at the gym and she wants to fix you up with her. Her name is Savannah Wagner. She’s 26, a nurse, and lives in New City. She’s adorable.” I proceeded to look her up on Facebook to see what this girl looked like - not immediately remembering the “Savannah” I matched with a few months prior. As I looked through her Facebook profile photos, I had a sense of déjà vu. I knew I had seen these exact photos somewhere before. It finally dawned on me that these were the photos of the girl I had matched with on Hinge. I texted my Mom back, and told her to send me her contact. Savannah and I proceeded to text for a few days and we planned a hike for our first date. That day we met at the trail, and we both brought our dogs. I thought she was even prettier in person and I was excited for the date ahead of us. We had a great hike and we chatted the entire way. We parted ways with a hug. I went home to Jersey City and Savannah went off to a friend’s house party. I messaged Savannah on my way home to tell her that I had a great time. That afternoon as I sat on my couch, I was wondering if I should have texted her right away or if I should have waited the unspoken 24-48 hours to make contact after a first date. To my surprise, Savannah texted me that evening and expressed how much fun she had had. She sent me photos of her friends, and she told me about her friend’s party. At this point, I was sure she was interested in me. We talked for another day or two, and I asked her on a second date… Ghosted, for a second time. I was sad, to say the least. I really liked Savannah. I figured, this girl was out of my league, and I realized she wasn’t that interested in me. Savannah’s name continued to come up in my social media as a “recommended person to follow” since she was in my contacts. I figured I’d never hear from her again, so I deleted the contact and text thread. November 14th 2020 – My parents got a new bernedoodle puppy and while my family was talking about what to name her, the name “Savannah” was mentioned. I quickly shot that option down, not wanting our family dog to remind me of the girl who ghosted me just a few months prior

November 27th 2020 – While at my friend Kerry Young’s beach house for the weekend following Thanksgiving, I received a text from a number I didn’t have saved in my phone. “Hey Dylan! I’m with Katie we were talking about you haha hows it going?” I thought to myself, who is this? Who is Katie? I sat with this message for a few minutes, trying to figure out who this could be. They had the right number …, I mean they knew my name, right? I decided maybe they would text again. I wasn’t worried about it. Ignored. November 28th 2020 – That morning, I picked up my phone to scroll Instagram and to check my messages as I laid in bed. I reopened this mystery message from the night before and I reread it a few times trying to figure out who this person could be. Only knowing a few people named “Katie”, it came to me. This must be Savannah. I went downstairs to have coffee and breakfast with Kerry and I said to her, “Guess who messaged me?”. She responded asking me who. I said, “Remember that girl I went on a date with over the summer who ghosted me? She messaged me saying that she was hanging out with Katie and she asked how I was doing.” Kerry asked, “So what did you say?” I said, “I am not going to respond. What, to be ghosted again? No.” Those who know Kerry, know she will always tell it like it is and she returned with a sneer and, “What else do you have going on?!”, referring to my lack of a relationship or girl in general. I responded, sheepishly, “Nothing. Fine.” *Eye roll* I responded, “Hey, this Savannah?” – Dumb, right? But here we are!

I had been working out at Vision Fitness Club for many years and in the process, I made some great workout partners and friends, including Katie McCann. She was a bit older than I, but we became close friends. One day, she said, “Savannah, you should meet my good friend’s son! He is around your age and he lives in Jersey City!” It was the middle of a worldwide pandemic and I was single, so I said, “Ok, I’m in.” Our first date was in early June of 2020. We took a fairly long hike in Nyack, NY. It was a great date. It was full of good conversation and laughs,and included our dogs Sammy and Riley, as witnesses. We left the date and we said our goodbyes. We exchanged text messages soon after to plan another date. On my end, I had just started a new job as an RN in the surgical ICU working the night shift and I was moving to New York City. If you know me, you know, I was quite overwhelmed with the changes in my life … I subsequently “ghosted” Dylan. Fast forward several months to Thanksgiving weekend. I was at a dinner party with Katie and she asked me how it was going with Dylan. I told her that we didn’t go on a second date because I felt like I had too much going on, but I told her that I had had a great time. I remember Katie saying, “Whatever girl gets to marry Dylan will be the luckiest girl ever!” So, I decided to text him that night! He didn’t answer until the next morning. I later learned that the Young girls made him reply because he was clearly still single. We began catching up over text and we decided to go out to Bailey’s Smokehouse in Blauvelt, NY on our second first date. When the waiter took our orders, we both ordered NO tomatoes or pickles with our sandwiches (insert true love heart emoji because “ew” tomatoes). I had the best time and our conversation flowed so easily. We showed each other videos and pictures of our friends, our dogs, and our families. Since that date, we have talked every hour of every day and we have been inseparable! My advice to all the girls - don’t ghost your boyfriend because you’ll never live it down.