After using the Hinge dating app for about 2 1/2 years, I came across Sean's profile, a handsome guy who seemed smart and interested in similar things. We matched and messaged back and forth for almost two days when I asked him to meet for coffee. He went silent for almost 8 hours (which, at that point, was out of the ordinary). I thought I'd scared him off. However, wonderfully he said yes and drove almost two hours to meet me. Our first date is memorialized in the blurry background of a Instagram Reel created by the coffee shop that day. (See bottom image.) We had a 4 hour coffee date before I HAD to leave, otherwise I knew I'd just keep talking to this smart, handsome, and cool guy. We continued messaging and he asked me how I felt about an 'old school' phone call, which was, to me, very sweet and refreshing. That one call turned into daily calls. He planned our second date and made it a surprise. He sent me an address (I gave this address to a friend who made sure it wasn't an abandoned field or anything creepy.). I showed up and he'd planned a perfect date at Emerald Tavern (a game cafe). We spent 8 hours there and I had so much fun playing games and talking. It was basically my dream date, needless to say I was smitten.

Signing up with dating apps was a lark. I never expected to really match with anyone, let alone seriously. Imagine my surprise when my first app-sourced date ended up being with exactly the kind of person I'd sought without success for my entire adult life: someone who is incisively smart, tragically funny, indescribably beautiful and completely accepting of my laundry list of foibles. Not only was it my first app date -- it was also my last. I knew within moments that Monica was perfect for me, and I have never known a moment of anything but happiness and gratitude for the match and date that she initiated.