Caroline likes to brag that the first date was the only time she would ever arrive at a destination before Ben. Ben and Caroline met on a dating app when Caroline was in law school at the University of Richmond. Ben suggested they meet for a first date at the Jasper: a trendy cocktail bar in Carytown. One drink turned to three as Caroline was pleasantly surprised that Ben could keep up with her endless banter. They agree that they enjoyed the date enough to order food, but can't agree what that was. Ben thinks it was a pork slider; Caroline thinks (knows) it was some sort of potatoes in a tortilla. But that doesn't matter; the thing they can agree on is that they enjoyed each other's company enough to want a second date. The only issue was, Ben was flying to New Zealand the next day for a four-week work trip. That, of course, sounds like the kind of bad excuse someone makes up when they really don't want to see the other person again. And Ben knew that it sounded like the kind of bad excuse someone makes up when they really don't want to see the other person again. But he really DID want that second date, so he promised to text Caroline when he got back from the other side of the world. And he did. And here we are six years later :)