Our story began in late May 2021. I had just returned from a long cross-country road trip, the kind that shifts something inside you, and only a week earlier I had been baptized at a church in North Carolina. My heart felt new, steady, and open in a way it hadn’t in a long time. And then Hinge decided to step in and declare that I was “highly compatible” with a man named Jordan Wright. Looking back, I’m pretty sure my settings must have been set to “Christian” and “6’4” because clearly God and the algorithm were working overtime. His first message came after responding to one of my prompts: “What’s your love language?” I, in true Brooke fashion, had written: “All of them. Lol.” Apparently that answer caught his attention and sparked a conversation neither of us wanted to end. After talking for only two days, long enough to know something felt different but short enough to still feel like a risk, we arranged to meet in person. He would end up being my very first Hinge date. It was May 28, 2021. We used an app to find a halfway point and landed in Haddonfield, NJ, planning to grab tacos. But when the wait was far too long, we wandered down the street to PJ Whelihan’s instead. They seated us in the back, across from each other at first… until the noise made us lean in, and Jordan moved to the booth beside me so we could talk without shouting. We ordered nachos, and I naturally pulled out the truffle hot sauce I keep in my bag (because of course I did). We fell into the kind of conversation that melts hours without you even noticing. He earned bonus points for not letting me pay. At some point we looked outside and realized it was downpouring, the dramatic, cinematic kind of rain. So we stayed tucked into our little corner even longer, talking about everything and nothing until the storm finally eased. When we said goodbye with a gentle hug, I didn’t know exactly when I would see him again, but I knew I would. Something in me already recognized him. The moment I got in my car, I called my best friend and screamed with joy. It felt like the beginning of something big. We kept meeting halfway for dates, slowly stitching our lives together one drive and one dinner at a time. And then one night, with a beautiful bouquet, a thoughtful dinner, and a candle that said “I love you,” Jordan asked me to be his girlfriend. And the rest, truly, is history in the making. We are so glad you are a part of our story.