After chatting online for about a week, we decided it was time to meet in person. Our first date was at an Italian restaurant in Lincoln Park—of course, Italian felt like the perfect choice. Brian still jokes that when he called to make the reservation, the host sounded a little… off. When we arrived, it took a while for the restaurant to find our booking, which made that phone call seem even more suspicious. As we waited, the nerves started to kick in, and Brian was quietly scanning nearby restaurants just in case we needed a backup plan. Thankfully, our table was eventually ready and we were seated… or so we thought. Moments after sitting down, our waiter informed us—completely seriously—that we were in the wrong chairs. We both laughed at first, thinking it was a joke, but quickly realized he meant it. Not wanting to make a scene on a first date, we played along and kept things light. Despite the unconventional start, the rest of the evening went incredibly well, and we quickly planned a second date (which, for the record, involves a memorable tres leches cake story). As we continued seeing each other, we often laughed about that first night—especially the “wrong chairs” moment. Anyone who knows us knows that under different circumstances, we might have had a very different response, but we were both on our best behavior! Looking back, we like to think that those “wrong chairs” were the first thing we bonded over—turning what could have been an awkward beginning into a story we still laugh about today.