Like any modern-day romance, this all started on a dating app. Zach decided to try a newfangled thing called “internet dating” while Samantha was ready to press delete on the entire dating world and focus on the recent purchase of her first home. These two matched on a dating app (Hinge, if you must know) on a Wednesday night during the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and had their first date that Sunday evening. But this fated match nearly never occurred! Samantha had set her “dating radius” to five miles—a Northeast Heights girl through and through. Zach lived in downtown Albuquerque. To normal folk, this was a mere 10 miles away; but to Samantha, it might as well be Siberia. It was on a chance day that Zach was visiting a friend in the Heights and afterwards visited Del Norte Sports and Wellness (which is three manageable miles away from Samantha’s location) that Zach unknowingly landed in Samantha’s coveted dating radius. As their text-message relationship blossomed, Zach proposed a local eatery, Flying Star, as their first date. In a misguided act of flirtation, Samantha responded “I think you can do better than that.” This puzzled Zach. He racked his brain, not sure how to take this response from a woman he had never met nor spoken to in person. Almost on instinct, Samantha chose that moment to call Zach, and a two-hour conversation ensued. Zach and Samantha laid out all their baggage on this first phone conversation, prior to their first date. Looking back, these two knew they would get along and, if nothing else, they would have a good evening with laughter and fun. Their first date was at a local board-game shop called Empire Boardgames in Nob Hill. Samantha (arguably) obliterated Zach in an obscure game called Spots, while they mutually quit the surprisingly difficult-to-understand Oregon Trail boardgame. The night ended with a few rounds of trusty Connect 4 and a goodnight hug. (Zach and Samantha proudly display the frequent-gaming card from Empire that Zach saved in frame in their home office.) Zach, admittedly a tiny bit rusty in the dating arena, didn’t know if he should wait to text Samantha. “What are the 2023 rules?” he must’ve wondered. Rules be darned—on a whim, Zach messaged Samantha to see if she was free for lunch that Wednesday since he was going to be up near her for a speaking engagement. Samantha and Zach had their second date at a Chipotle on San Mateo. Later, Samantha would find out Zach wanted to kiss her that day but aborted that plan that when they had to unromantically say goodbye near a group of homeless men in the Chipotle parking lot. Their third date was two nights later at Zach’s bachelor pad in downtown Albuquerque. They had their first kiss under his patio lights while dancing to his neighbors’ loud Spanish-language music. These two kids went full speed from the get-go, all the while feeling like things were natural and not forced. When asked, Samantha says she knew Zach was “the one” after she discussed with him her future family expectations. “He was kind, genuine and wasn’t wasting my time.” Zach knew this romance would lead to something wonderful not long after their initial phone call conversation. “Conversation was easy, enjoyable, and free flowing. She’s the nicest person ever to me.”