Just like the good old days, we met on the internet. We matched on Hinge, you know, the app that's meant to be deleted? Well, long story short, Raul was so eager to exchange phone numbers but like I said, safety first, so I gently declined and said I would like to meet first before exchanging any more personal information. He was okay with that. 1st green flag. At that time, I was on a soul-searching journey and booked a solo trip to Hawaii, which he happened to be available for a date but I was not. Raul said "okay next time, safe travels, we hang when you get back." What he really meant was “strike 1.” The night I got back from Hawaii, he wanted to go out for coffee but my yorkie, as many of you know, Lucy, was giving birth in my living room! I told Raul, "you are NOT gonna believe it! but I cannot meet up with you, my dog is giving birth!" aaaand well I was right, he did not believe me. In my mind, that was strike 2. I was sure he would give up and just ignore me after that. But alas, much to my surprise he continued to message me and even asked about the pups 🥰green flag for sure. When all was said and done, and I was finally ready to meet him in person, he said too bad I booked a trip to Vegas. I kid. He did not say it like that but basically true, since I didn’t respond in time, he booked a flight. I thought, that’s pretty dope. And said safe travels, we can meet another time. We finally met for dinner and bowling and the rest is history!

How we met: I was focused on my kids and career for a long time, so dating wasn't on my radar. When both my kids got out of college and I also hit some career milestones, I decided to start dating. I was dating for a couple of years before I met Laura. I had a certain expectation of the type of woman and companion I wanted in my life and I still had not met her. Before the date with Laura, I had decided it was going to be my last online date, I was going to delete the app. So you all have the right context- our messages were funny and flirtatious. Even though she didn't want to give me her number, after asking twice, we were still having fun with exchanging messages. When I reached out in the initial message, I asked her out and for her number. I approached the conversation like I had nothing to lose. She declined the date because she was on her way to Hawaii, and I also didn't get her number because she wanted to meet first. I told her I also had a trip to Vegas and we could meet up when she returned. We both did our separate trips and went on with our lives. I didn't know when she was going to return so about a week later I messaged her again. I asked her out again, I asked for her number again. This time she told me her dog was giving birth and couldn't meet. At this point I thought: wtf this is the most complicated way to say no. But what I said was: this is the most creative way I had ever been rejected. You could just say no. In all of our messages, even though she said no to exchanging numbers and to going out, she knew I was joking when I would tease/make fun of her "rejecting" me, but the most important thing was...I knew she was interested in me. So I just left my info in her inbox. We kept exchanging messages and I think we ended up meeting a week or 2 later. That first date obviously went amazing. I took her to dinner and then bowling. Bowling was fun. I had the whole thing planned out. I wanted to see what this girl was about. I wanted to see how she handled competition. So the game I thought of was a competitive Q&A - who ever won the round got to ask any question. I wanted to understand her thought process with the questions I was asking. I also wanted to hear the type of questions she was going to ask me. Another thing I observed was that she bought a couple of rounds of drinks. She didn't have to do this and I appreciated it. I told her “green flag for sure.” She was funny and witty. I got her sense of humor. Definitely made me laugh. We kept bowling, we continued to get to know each other with the Q&A game. As the night went on we started getting hot and when she took off her jacket, I thought: “Damn what a distraction!” But no, I had to stay on game. I ended up kicking her ass in bowling. I mean, it was pretty bad. I had to throw a few rounds so she could ask me questions. At the end of the night, I offered to drive her home. As we exited the building, I held the door open for her, as we approached my car, I opened her door, on the drive to her house she turned into a sexy GPS, giving me directions. We arrived at her house, I walked her to her front gate, and I went in for the kiss. We kissed and when we slowly pulled away, she had the biggest smile on her face! I was smiling too and told her: you have a big smile, you like me 😏 When I said goodnight, I told her she had my # in her Hinge , so it's up to her if she reaches out. It's interesting thinking back on our story because we had both been disillusioned by the people we dated before we met. I could have easily deleted my account after she turned me down. She could have also not reached out after our date. Thankfully that wasn't the case, and almost three years after meeting, im marrying the perfect girl for me.