Brandi's Perspective: Sam and I met online through Christian Mingle. Sam’s profile caught my eye with his love for the outdoors, his heart for God, and the sincere description he wrote about what he was looking for in his future wife. I messaged him on May 12, 2021 and was anxiously looking forward to hearing back from him! Almost a whole month went by before I received a message back. (I had to go back on his profile to remember who he was!) Our messages were long and thorough, and I could tell Sam’s communication with me was different than I had experienced before. We messaged for a month before I asked for Sam’s number. We set up our first Facetime date on July 16th. Our conversation felt effortless and we talked for 2 hours! (Sam is very chatty!) I was in the midst of training for an Ironman in September, and had a very busy fall with every weekend booked with travel. I feared that if Sam and I didn’t meet in person before my race, it would be hard to sustain an online distance relationship for a few more months. I decided to initiate again, asking if he would like to meet in person in August. We agreed to meet in the tiny town of Lander, WY on August 14. I was standing outside the cafe when a white truck was making circles around the block in search of parking. (Not to mention Lander consists of one main street with 2 restaurants and a gas station!) After the truck finally found a parking spot, Sam got out in a bright neon yellow shirt. He saw me across the street and flagged me down with a double wave, with both hands over his head! It made me laugh as I definitely couldn’t miss him! We had a nice day together consisting of lunch, a hike, dinner, and ice cream! We were sitting on the curb eating ice cream and talking. We had just finished, and Sam suddenly hopped over to sit closer to me. I was a little startled because I wasn’t expecting him to try to make a move (after all, I had initiated everything up to this point! ;) He leaned in for an awkward side hug. Thankfully he had enough courage to try again, and gave me a proper kiss to end the date! Sam's Perspective: Brandi was the first to message me on Christian Mingle on May 12th, 2021. She was selling herself as an avid outdoors adventurer, who likes to mtn bike, hike, backpack, and camp. Though I like to hike and mtn bike, I knew I was not on her level. After thinking about it for almost a month, I decided to respond to her inquiries. We started off talking once a week. We did this for 3-4 weeks and as I was thinking about asking for her number, she beat me to the punch and asked for mine. We exchanged texts over the next couple of weeks and once again, as I was about to ask her if she would like to facetime, she beat me and asked first. We decided on July 16th. We had a casual conversation that lasted nearly 2 hours. She was friendly and asked lots of questions. It was a good first date! Over the next few weeks, we facetimed about once a week until we decided we would meet up in person. (Of course I was thinking it, but she asked to meet up!) It was evident early on that Brandi isn't afraid to initiate anything. We wanted to meet halfway (four hour drive one direction for both of us), so we decided on Lander, WY. After arriving in Lander, I found Brandi there waiting for me. I parked across the street from the restaurant and decided to flag her down with a two handed wave over my head, just in case she couldn't see me in my bright neon yellow shirt! We enjoyed a good conversation over lunch, went for a hike, and decided to eat dinner and get ice cream before leaving. After buying her ice cream, I wanted to give her a kiss, but as I went in she gave me a side hug, and we all know what that means! I wasn't going to be deterred and tried again and planted a big kiss on her! She still didn't seem too interested from my perspective, so I thought the date was a bust. After talking to her about it later, she said she was so happy that I was likely kissing her teeth!