We were a year and a half into the pandemic when friends from church decided to set up an old friend with a new friend. It was in October of 2021 when Virginia Smith decided to play matchmaker. She enlisted her husband Sidney in the scheme. At this point of the year, we had been back in church since April. People were slowly coming back to church and I was working closely with Virginia on the usher board. Virginia asked me was I dating anyone in which I replied no. She told me about her husband's friend and gave his number. Sidney told Darren at the same time that Virginia had someone he needed to meet. Darren was very surprised because he never knew Virginia was interested in his love life or lack of a love life. I never contacted Darren. Virginia stepped in again and setup a double date with us. It felt like we were in a fish bowl. We had two friends looking at us to see if they were correct in putting us in the same pond. It wasn't until our second date two weeks later after Thanksgiving that we relaxed and got to know each other. Covid hit me in January of 2022 so we only talked on the phone for a month. We talked about everything. After my quarantine, we saw each other about every two weeks until June of 2022. Darren went on a cruise by himself. Then in August, I went on a 22 state plus Canada journey for 7 days. We both realized we missed each other on those trips. We met up in Las Vegas after my trip and had a great time. The rest is history...