Rachael and I met like every great love story. Online. Rachael had dated just about every eligible man on hinge in a 20 mile radius. She knew what she wanted. She was looking for a man in his early 30s, someone who had money to spend, someone who had a flexible work life balance, someone who owned his own house, and certainly anyone but a teacher/coach. Instead, she liked the hinge profile of a 26 year old basketball coach who had just moved out of his parents house and into a frat mansion with 5 other roommates, who’s weekends were filled screaming at 14-18 year old boys in a loud gym, and someone who certainly did not know who he was looking for. When I got the hinge notification (I almost missed it because there was so many) I vividly remember my first thought. Hot cougar. Little did I know that notification would turn out to be the single greatest phone notification I have ever gotten or will ever get. Rachael picked a brewery for our first date. She wanted something casual and somewhere she could end it quick if it went south like so many had before. She had already sent her location to her friends and prewritten “call me in an hour and make up and excuse if you don’t hear from me text.” Meanwhile I had changed shoes 4 times and was trying to find the shirt that was just the right tightness to make sure this knew I worked out. Rachael was wearing a green crop top, ripped jean shorts, pink and white Jordan 11’s, she was tan, short, looked as if she knew her way around the gym, and to top it off, she was sporting a brand new diamond stud nose ring. My friends will tell you, I had described this exact fictitious woman to them several times before. And there she was. In the flesh. We sat down and to be honest I really don’t remember what happened next. I have a vague memory of her saying “about” in her Canadian accent and me not trying to stare at her classy yet edgy tattoos and then 3 hours later next thing I know I was in my car on my way back to the frat house on the phone with my mother saying “I am in love.” It was, obviously the one and only time I had ever said that. Usually the phone calls after my dates with my mom and Tyler consisted of “it was ok”, “she’s hot, but eh” ya I’ll see her one or two more times. Not this time. I immediately tried to talk myself out of it to my friends. Ya it was amazing but there is no way this hot 32 year old who has her life together and is way cooler than me actually is interested in me. I spent the next 3 days sending screenshots of our messages back and forth consulting every person I trusted to help me come up with the perfect response back. Our second date Rachael invited me to her home (which is now our home) I hurried through the date I was currently on and raced 45 minutes up to Woodstock. I waited in a Sherwin Williams parking lot staring at my phone until she finally texted me “I'm home, you can come over.” We talked on her porch for hours and she had her hair in "space buns” as she referred to them as and was wearing moon earrings, an Etowah Eagle sweatshirt and white converses. I truly could not stop staring at her. This time I remember the conversation. Never had I noticed a smile on a girl before. It was one of the greatest nights of my life. And then the conversation on the way home changed from "I am in love" to "This. Is. The. Woman. I. Want. To. Marry" (and I can happily say I finally am)