10.07.2022

Rod and I met on Tinder while he was living in Columbus, and I was still living in Tiffin. Once we matched on Tinder, I couldn't stop talking about the guy wearing Oakley's with the perfect smile! Even my boss at the nail salon knew, so that meant it was pretty serious because that also meant that she would tell all of her (and my) clients which would then make me the topic of conversation at all of the appointments for the rest of eternity. For anyone who has been to California Nails in Tiffin, Ohio, you know this to be true even to this day. After a few weeks of casually talking, we decided we should probably meet up. The version I like to tell is not technically the first time we met, but the most memorable... (alcohol was very much involved in the very first time). I was supposed to meet him at Brother's Bar and Grill in Columbus while he was out with his friends, but got stopped at the door and wasn't able to get in since I was not yet 21. So instead of hanging out in this cool new bar with this cool new guy, I sat outside on the steps of Brothers next to a homeless man. It wasn't long that Rod finally read his texts and found out that I wasn't allowed in (I think I lied on Tinder and said that I was older, oops) and he came out to join me on the steps. It was that night that we had the first of what neither of us knew would be many in depth and comical conversations. There were many times after that while we lived apart that we did not think that things were going to work out because of the distance, but somehow they always found a way to. I often think about that night we spent on the steps of Brothers Bar and Grill and wonder how differently things would have gone if I would have been let in that loud, smelly, sticky bar. I think it was that first conversation that really solidified my curiosity and attraction for the man who is now my soon to be husband, and I like to think that it all worked out the way it was supposed to.