We're Married!

When we first matched on Hinge during the height of Covid, I was excited. I mean he was a Brit, who could ski, and loved dogs. What more could a girl ask for? We followed each other on Instagram. And then when he asked me out, I said yes.... only to back out of the date about an hour before we were supposed to meet up. I was recently single and not in the right headspace to be dating anyone. Half a pandemic later, he messaged me on Instagram after I got harassed on the metro. We started chatting and he invited me to the dog park to talk about mental health. He brought coffees and we putzed around trying to determine if we were just there to bear our vulnerable mental health savvy souls to one another or if we were on a date. Because neither of us knew...... Two days later we got dinner again. A couple of days after that I went to dinner at his apartment, and then never left. We became inseparable and started crafting plans to move in together about 3 weeks into dating. Before I knew it, his dog loved me more than him and I was at his family holidays (it was unsafe to travel home to Colorado). Now I wake up every day, either in our bed or treehouse on wheels. I like to get up before him and make either tea or coffee for the two of us, just as a small way to show how much I care for him. Nic is honestly the most perfect soul for me. I always thought I understood love: that ethereal concept that seems to float around and make everyone happy. But I had no idea that a passionate, caring, deep-rooted love like this existed, and that it could make me happier beyond my wildest dreams. He's more than just my partner. He's my best friend, closest confidant, dog dad, stand-up comedy partner, adventure buddy, personal cheerleader, and shoulder to lean on. He's there to challenge me, drive me to be my best, make me laugh until my sides hurt, and cuddle me and our dogs every night. Anywho. That's how we met. Fast, crazy, pandemic-fueled love.

Mer and I met for the first time in a dog park in mid 2020. After what felt like a spectacularly crappy year, I’d sort of just resigned myself to being single at that point in time. I wasn’t really actively dating, just looking for more friends. I had no idea she’d become my best friend. On our third date we sat pantsless discussing the merits of capitalism and communism respectively over pepperoni pizza at midnight whilst John Oliver was on in the background. We stayed up all night talking, I think at one point I looked at the clock — realized it was 5am, said we should get to sleep and she looked at me very confused. “Why? This is interesting!” Since then we’ve done a bunch of crazy things, most notably going on a two month long road trip together living and working in our tiny crosstrek with our three dogs and a rooftop tent. Candidly, I kept expecting she’d wake up one morning and realize I wasn’t good enough for her as I became increasingly disheveled and unkempt on the roadtrip. She was so… amazing. Bright, charming, fun loving, a beautiful soul through and through. But she never did, never does. She looks at me the same way. I’ll work every day to deserve her, because she’s my best friend and I love her more than I ever thought possible.