It all started when I got a targeted instagram ad on my phone: "Comedy Show! Abandoned Classroom! $4 Drinks!" Please. You had me at "abandoned classroom." When I showed up, it was the coolest speakeasy I had ever seen - and YES, it was in an abandoned classroom. I settled in to my seat with 3 White Claws (that's $12 for you following along at home) and waited for the show to start. And there he came, bursting onto the stage like a circus ringmaster. My first thought: "I bet this guy plays dungeons on dragons." And the rest is history! I'm just kidding. I went to 8 more shows before I worked up the courage to ask him out. And, by the time we started dating, I had started trying stand-up comedy myself! From the first date, I would say that we knew. A "match-made-in-basement," if you will. We've been attached at the hip ever since, slowly working our way towards opening Goofs Comedy Club this fall - I know that this is only the first of our many big adventures to come.

It all began when I started targeting gorgeous curly haired blonde girls in divinity school from the Midwest on Instagram. Not directly, of course. The exact tags that probably got her were: Friendship, A Girl's Night Out, Friends, socializing, Theatre Also included in those tags were "Date Night" and "First Dates" which was unknowingly very, very apt. Foreshadowing I suppose. I still remember the first time she talked to me after a show. I had a hard rule: I was not going to hit on or ask out any of the women who came to our shows, because I liked that it was a safe space for women. And I didn't want to make it uncomfortable for Isabel by asking her out, and then this place that she loves is tainted because the man who "looks like he plays Dungeons and Dragons" made it awkward. I thought that she was very pretty, and we followed each other on Instagram, and I remember thinking that there was no way a girl this gorgeous was into me, so I was probably reading into just how excited she was to talk to me. So this lead to months of me ignoring her signals, which, in retrospect, were very clear. I'm still not good at picking up hints though. Here's a short list of signals I ignored: -Her telling me that she really liked me and was really impressed with what I was doing -Isabel coming eight times in the span of four months. -Her messaging me, specifically, after half of the shows she went to. -Isabel bringing, like, twelve people to the shows the weekend of my birthday and telling me she brought them for me. -Her joining our class, and sending me VERY flirty emails during the entire sign up process -Isabel talking to me after every single show (except for one where I went looking for her and she was on the playground outside so I missed her. Classic) Our first date was electric, and so much fun. We didn't want to leave each other's sides, but we had to, because I had a flight leaving the next morning to go to Portland, Oregon for the week. We talked on the phone for three hours the day after I landed in Portland. We both cancelled the dates we had set up with other people in the next couple of weeks. We sent each other countless voice messages, which I still have saved. And after a week of anticipation, I returned from Portland, and we had our second date. And our third. And our fourth. And I've lost count, but I've loved every one of them. Best marketing campaign I've ever run. I also remember, and this is very non-linear, but the moment that I knew for sure I really liked her. I don't know if she knows this, but every time I got an email that said Isabel Thurston had bought tickets, I'd get flushed and excited. And then, and this is the big thing - I remembered her name from the first time we talked. I don't usually do that. And I wasn't even thinking, and I started calling her out on stage, by name, while I was performing. When she emailed about taking the classes, I was WAY too excited. And here's something even better... The teacher of the classes, Dan, wanted to cancel the classes because there were only four students signed up. He said it wasn't enough. But I couldn't do it, because Isabel was in the class, and I wanted to spend time with Isabel. That was my exact thought process. I don't even know how aware of it I was, but I do remember the way my heart beat when she showed up that day. And I remember telling myself to get it together, she's here for the class, she's not here for me, or into me. Thank God she asked me out that night. Best yes I've ever given. And believe me, it was a fast yes. An emphatic yes, with suggestions for things we could do. I really love her.