Believe it or not, 2020 was one of the best years of my life. I had finally started taking care of myself and I felt great! I had a handful of truly great friends, but I was seeing no progress in my romantic life. The multiple dating apps I frequented did nothing but frustrate me. But then Pattie sent me a message (ladies went first on that app) and it all changed. Our conversation immediately flourished. She was engaging, witty, and funny. She drew my focus like no other match ever had. My time on these apps had made me cynical though. I figured I'd save myself some time and just ask her out quickly so I could get over the rejection and move on. To my surprise, she agreed... for the next day! It being Friday the 13th is my only explanation for her lapse in judgement. The next day, I fell through the floor while remodeling my bathroom. I thought I had broken a rib (I hadn't) and was in a lot of pain. I picked up my phone to cancel my date with Pattie, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Somehow I knew I needed to meet her. So I groaned, cleaned myself up, and drove to meet this mysterious woman from the internet who had so thoroughly caught my attention. When I showed up, the pain had transformed to an intense, dull ache, and I had become very stiff from the long drive. I don't remember much from the first few minutes of meeting Pattie because I was distracted by my throbbing ribs. In the first truly clear memory I have of Pattie, I was sitting at the table, freezing cold, but no longer feeling any pain. I was just staring at Pattie as she talked when I had one very clear thought- "Don't mess this up. This is the last first date of your life."

Dating is hard, and dating during a global pandemic is even harder. For several months, I'd been on a couple dating apps, and had grown frustrated with the process. I told my roommate one day, "If I don't connect with someone by this Friday, I'm deleting these - this is more hassle than it's worth." And then, Friday evening ... I connected with Brad. He wasted absolutely no time asking me to meet for dinner, offering to drive over an hour to take me to a local restaurant (Sedona Tap House) the next evening. We sat outside, in November, which meant we were both freezing, but the conversation was effortless and Brad had me laughing in no time. It was the best first date I'd ever been on - by far. After our meal, neither one of us wanted to say goodbye yet, but it was dark, cold, and everything was closed. So Brad said, "What if we go sing show tunes in my car?" And so that's exactly what we did. We sang Jessie J and Hamilton and Ben Platt and Pentatonix, and capped off an incredible evening together singing. And I'm so thankful that the laughter, adventure, and show tunes from that first date ... they, and Brad, stuck around.

I’m a big dreamer. I fantasized about insane and extravagant proposals. But while my head was in the clouds, I knew Pattie wanted something simple and personal. My solution to this conundrum was romance. Pattie and I often speak of how formative our first date was, and how we both knew we had found someone special. So I decided to re-create the magic. I took Pattie to Sedona Taphouse. We ate the same meals on the same patio as our first date. The conversation was even better than the first time- we weren’t freezing cold, and my ribs weren’t aching. To continue with the re-creation, we then went to my truck to sing through the same playlist of show tunes as the night we met. Once again, Pattie’s voice captured my attention and made the rest of the world melt away. Pattie expected all of this. What she didn’t know, was that I had also planned to re-create our second date. While Pattie and I were still long-distance, we had weekly date nights halfway between Charlottesville and Lynchburg in the cute little town of Lovingston. The Fortune’s Cove Nature Preserve in Lovingston was extra special to us as that’s where we’d had our second date, stargazing. On the way back from Sedona, I made a detour. At Fortune’s Cove, I spread blankets in the bed of my truck. In the perfect weather, we laid back to enjoy the moment and reminisce. The sky was crystal clear and the stars were brilliant. When I could tell the moment was right, I told Pattie I had something I wanted to share with her. Because I wanted to be sure I communicated my heart, I had spent days writing out an explanation of my love and memorizing it. As I began to talk, I felt no nerves. My mind was clear, and I was intently focused. My voice and hands were steady. As I expressed my love for Pattie, I guided her out of the truck and into the grass. There, I kneeled down on one knee before her, and asked, “Patricia Claire Foreman, will you marry me?” “I will. Absolutely.”