Once upon a time the planets and the fates and all the stars aligned. Ryan and I ended up in the same room at the same time. It was a cold December Sunday and the thought of getting dressed and parking in Center City, Philadelphia was enough to make me cancel my first date with Ryan. But I pushed through, ever the optimist, thinking if nothing else, I would finally see what the person I'd been talking to for a week on Bumble looked like in person, and I'd get a free meal. Of course, I sucked all the air out of the Dandelion dining room, but to my surprise, my gift of gab was actually a positive to the more reserved Ryan and seven hours later he was smitten. As we recounted our personal anecdotes over steamy cups of hot chocolates at Parc in Rittenhouse (stop #5 on our epic first date) Ryan said "wait til you meet my brother...you'll probably meet my brother, right? Like this is going well?" to which I responded with an enthusiastic "yes!". Three and half years, one pandemic, and three moves later, I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for Ryan and me. If it's anything like that first date, we're in for a lot of laughter, surprises and Mummers?? (Please query in person, I won't be typing it all out here.) PS - Teddy Smith finally got the dog dad he deserves.