We're Getting Married!

Gaby realized she needed to up her dating game, so obviously she turned to online dating. She struggled with J-date--swiping just wasn't for her--and enjoyed Hinge once she learned the rules of the game. After a couple of dates, she realized that a Jewish man was a must for her. So she added Judaism to her Hinge settings. The pool of applicants shrunk by a good 75% (rough estimate). But guess who showed up? Craig. Gaby "liked" and messaged Craig right away and was encouraged when a friend of hers said, "ohhh he's so cute." She was like, "right?!" Craig responded a couple hours later, post basketball, and pursued a very attentive, deep conversation with Gaby. Gaby liked this. She realized this man could converse. Messages went back and forth that were 2 paragraphs long. This was good. Gaby and Craig talked on the phone and then scheduled their first date. Gaby knew they could talk, that was clear. But could they laugh? Could they play? So Gaby challenged Craig to a game of bowling for their first date. She scored a 14 and realized she didn't love bowling that much, but she suspected she may be able to love Craig. When did Gaby know this guy was a special one? First, he offered to pick her up on date #2 even though it was completely out of the way. Second, Craig asked her about her "love language" and told her about the five love languages on their way to ice-cream (date #3). Gaby appreciated Craig's emotional intelligence big-time. The rest is history!

It was a cold, wintry March evening. I had just come home from playing basketball. I was settling in to my evening routine of heating up my dinner, playing with my kitties and swiping left enough on the dating apps to make me feel like I am at least trying to get a date. After passing through profiles where I couldn't see the woman's face, I couldn't see which one was actually her among her friends and I got so little information from the profile to determine if I would trust them to water my plants, I was ready to succumb to my usual feeling of exasperation. Before I gave up, I came across a lovely profile of a woman who was close to my age, lived in Newton (30 minutes away, but maybe it's close enough) and was even Jewish. Her pictures seemed like the right balance between beautiful and low maintenance, dorky but fun. It was late, but I figured I'd send a message. Usually, when I hear back, I get one sentence replies to the messages that I thoughtfully craft, making me feel like a journalist interviewing these people. But this woman not only wrote a significant amount in answers to my questions, she asked me questions as well! This was enough to get me excited. After a successful phone call where my mother listened in to give her final approval (just kidding about my mother :) ), we scheduled a bowling date. The bowling was her idea. I was excited that maybe she was a great bowler and would wow me with her mad skills. She bowled a 14. Luckily, she was super cute, laughed at all my jokes and was a great conversationalist. I knew it was for real after our second date when she texted me while I was at work and she told me to go to my car. If this isn't an ominous message, I don't know what is. I went out to my car and found that she had left homemade baked goods on my windshield. Beautiful, smart, confident enough to laugh at her own terrible bowling score, and brings me baked goods at work????? YES PLEASE!!!