Some love stories start with a swipe. Ours started with a dance floor… and a near miss. It was one of those nights dreamed up by friends, my friend Dave and Jake's friend Katie ...who decided to play matchmaker by gathering a group to go dancing. Katie would bring the single guys, Dave would bring the single girls, and the rest would take care of itself. When Jake and I met, we clicked right away over our shared Southern roots. I grew up in Memphis, and he’d spent the last few years of high school in Mississippi. From there, it was all smiles, easy conversation, and a whole lot of dancing. The kind of dancing where you forget about everyone else in the room. At one point, we even locked eyes across the floor - you know, the way they do in the movies… …which is exactly why I was sure this was going somewhere. And then, at the end of the night, he smiled and said, “It was great meeting you.” That was it. No number. No “let’s do this again.” Just a polite goodbye and off he went. Apparently, Jake had somehow thought I had a boyfriend. And I figured, “Well, I guess he’s not interested.” Luckily, our friends weren’t about to let a little miscommunication ruin a good story. A couple of days later, Katie told Jake I was in fact actually single. Jake told Katie to tell Dave he was interested. Dave then texted me. (We call it the most inefficient matchmaking chain ever, but hey, it worked.) I told Dave, “Sure, but make sure he knows I have two little kids.” And Jake? He didn’t even blink. Our first date was a few weeks later, on March 13, 2023, but we’ll always remember February 18 - the night we danced, almost missed each other completely, and ended up finding exactly where we were meant to be.