Ariel and I had been friends for over a year at this point. More recently we had started texting one another A LOT. After far too long, I finally mustered up the courage to ask her out on a date. She cautiously said yes. Our plan was to go to Ponce City Market and get a drink. However, nothing went even a little bit according to the plan that night. Nervous, I found myself knocking on her door. Little did I know, this was the last normal thing that would happen on our first date. I walked in to find out that one of our mutual friends had locked their bike to Ariel’s 9th floor balcony while they were out of town. The bike was very secure to say the least. Our friend was still on a plane and we didn’t know the code to the lock, so we just ended up talking for an hour or so in Ariel’s living room. I’m gonna be honest… we were awkward. Fast forward - our friend finally lands and texts Ariel the lock combination. Our plan was to move the bike down to the street so that we could actually go on our date. But, the bike lock was more heavy duty than we first realized, and Ariel couldn’t get the lock to unlock. Finally, she asked me to give it a go. Thrilled at the opportunity to play hero and impress her, I went out to the balcony. I put in the combination and pulled the two pieces apart. To my excitement, it worked. However, (in my moment of incredible strength), I saw this heavy duty bike lock slip through my hands and plummet nine stories towards the crowded sidewalk of Midtown. The next 10 seconds seemed like a lifetime as I watched the lock hit the sidewalk and miss all of the pedestrians walking by. I never thought I would be so relieved to not kill someone on my first date, but here I found myself. We proceeded to rush down to the side walk to get the lock and see the damage. The metal lock was significantly bent. And in the next moment Ariel would go on to say to me one of the most flattering things of all time… “Can you just bend it back to normal?” I am confident that if I used all of my strength from my entire lifetime, I still could not have achieved what she was asking. So we made our way back up to Ariel’s apartment and waited for our friend to arrive from the airport. In the meantime, we kept talking in the apartment - a little less awkward this go around. Our friend finally texted that they were almost there, so we got the bike and went to the elevators to take it down to them. As we walk out the door, the fire alarm is triggered. Which meant that the elevators were not functional. This resulted in me carrying the bike down nine flights of stairs (thank God our friend had a very nice and lightweight bike)! Finally, we met our friend and dropped off the bike. We were ready to go on the date (two hours late). We got in the car to drive to Ponce City Market just to find out that the parking gate is not active while the fire alarm is going off. Three strikes. So we gave up hope for our original plan and decided to walk to a nearby cafe. We ended up getting a drink and talking for another hour or so. Then, I walked Ariel home and said goodnight. Date #1 was in the books. It was definitely more eventful than I could have ever imagined. I have to be brutally honest, I don’t think either of us would have expected to make it to this point after that first date. However, looking back I loved the opportunity to interact with Ariel when things didn’t go as planned. And to say the Lord works in creative ways is a large understatement. Meeting Ariel is without a doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me. She is the love of my life, and I am so honored to get to marry her! She is a woman full of grace, kindness, patience, love and laughter. I am better because she is in my life, and she makes every day better.