I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with myself, and in 2017, I got an opportunity to leave my hometown of Fort Worth, TX and move across the country to Scranton, PA (yes, just like the The Office). After about two days, I realized I had made a terrible mistake, and by the good grace of whatever God was looking out for me, I only had to stay in Scranton for two weeks before I got to return home. After settling in, I happened to match with a world-traveled, successful, beautiful woman on Tinder (I 100% super-liked her ... in other words, I paid to stand out to her and it worked so I am okay admitting it now). We exchanged some introductory messages and agreed to meet up for dinner. But shortly after, I started to question if this person from the pictures was even a real person at all ... For starters, she was clearly WAY out of my league. Secondly, the show Catfish was very popular at this time so really anything that seemed "off" essentially meant you were talking to a 300lb man in his mom's basement. In my defense, Annie's profile did have pictures from places that were so beautiful, they seemed fake, AND one of her pictures was with who I assumed was her brother, but with a different last name. All signs were pointing to me get "Manti Te'o'd". Finally, the night of the big date arrived. I, having impeccable fashion sense, sported what Annie would later describe as a "frat daddy" outfit (plaid shorts, pink polo top, golf hat). And I am what Annie lovingly describes as "freakishly early" and this night was no different. So there I am in my spiffy outfit, sitting at the bar of HG Sply Co, 100000% sure I was getting catfished. And then Annie didn't show. 10 minutes turned to 20, and 30 to 40, and my date had not arrived. Resigned to the fact that I was being stood up, I took what little pride I had left and started to tell the bartender to give me my check. It was at this time that a gust of wind came from the front door and I turned to see what caused this calamity. And there she was, Annie Nguyen Lam. She walked through the door with a big smile on her face, not a care in the world, and 41 minutes late. I couldn't have been happier. Not only was she an ACTUAL person, she was even more beautiful than I expected. We had a wonderful dinner with great conversation (even though she said she wasn't hungry and proceeded to eat most of the meal I ordered) and then it was time to leave, but I didn't want the date to end. I proposed a walk to the nearby food truck park to end the night and she, reluctantly, agreed. Unbeknownst to me, there were basically zero lights on the on the Trinity Riverwalk and the park was vacant so I am pretty sure Annie thought this was a scene out of one of her beloved Crime Junkie podcasts. As we walked, I held her hand, which I could tell was something she didn't necessarily do on first dates, but she humored me. As the night came to an end, I walked her to her car to say goodnight. Being the smooth operator that I am, I figured I had earned a good night kiss so I went in for the smooch. Annie thought otherwise and she hit me with the full-on Matrix backbend. I thought for sure my chances of a second date were all but over. Thankfully, she gave me another chance, then another, and almost 6 years later, I will get to call this amazingly beautiful person my wife.

During my one and a half year of (f)unemployment and world travels, I decided to download Tinder purely for research purposes. I never planned to respond to any messages and certainly never did abroad (true crime expert/fanatic here). But it was time to face reality! So I returned to the States. As I awaited a recruiter call, I decided to kill time on the Tinder app. I saw a man with a cheeky little grin, a flamingo button down shirt 🦩, and cowboy boots, which I can safely say is not my TYPICAL type. But just something about him made me swipe right and we matched, chatted, and decided to meet up. Naturally, I chose a well-lit and public restaurant, searched him on social media (nada), and shared my location and his photo with my sisters. The whole nine yards. I walked into HG Sply Co and a man, who was clearly not 6' tall per his Tinder profile 😜, walked up to me in a pink polo shirt and plaid shorts. I think my first question to him was: Were you in a frat ... ? (It turns that out frat daddies and golfers have the same fashion sense!) But our conversation never had a lull moment and he had me actually laughing out loud. He then suggested that we hit up the food truck park nearby, and being the food lover that I am, I blindly followed him along a dark and deserted riverwalk and began to question if this was where I would die - ESPECIALLY when we arrived at an equally dark and deserted parking lot. Luckily, the weirdo that tried to hold my hand the entire night wasn't a murderer. At the end of the night, he walked me to my car and leaned in for a goodnight kiss. Being the awkward human that I am, I did a full-on backbend and gave him a confused look. He immediately apologized, continued to apologize over text in the car and when I got home, and sent me a personalized Spotify playlist (such a cheeseball haha). But he got a second date, and a third, and a fourth, and the rest is (nearly six years of) history! We've been through it all - company launches, family tragedies, job changes, relocation, home purchases, covid, and the rollercoaster that's life. The good, the bad, and the ugly - There's no one I'd rather have by my side.

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