The first message was a quip about Edgar Allan Poe and a confession about dead plants. For two months, we texted and shared light hearted jokes. Eventually, we decided to meet in person for the first time to get burgers at Wishbeer. The discussion remained pleasant and typical for maybe an hour- tell me about your family? where have you lived? why are you a teacher? Then someone mentioned Lord of the Rings and, wow, did the dinner take off- 4 hours later and the restaurant was getting ready to close. Christian walked Devin home that night, realizing that we both lived a short walk from each other's place- a remarkable fact given the size of Bangkok. Christian then asked Devin on a proper date, even though it was during a stressful weekend of school conferences for him! We went to eat Fowl Mouth and mistakenly ordered the *mild* spicy chicken strips to share- not mild! Neither of us could handle the spice but we both attempted to stomach it in order to impress the other. We talked about southern food, podcasts, and God. Christian said "I really like you" and Devin freaked out a bit because she isn't use to dates working out so well! The next few months involved more dates, "I wish you were here" texts from the beach, and really deep conversations. On January 13th, 2019, Christian and Devin officially started dating.