Van & Shannon matched on Tinder in August of 2016, but didn't have their first date until September, after Shannon canceled a few times. As she says, she just "wasn't feeling it." But, they agreed to meet on a Saturday in early September at Last Concert Cafe. After being an hour late because she has no sense of direction and the GPS was on the fritz, Van was still there, patiently waiting. Shannon will never forget the first time she laid eyes on him--he was looking out the window to see if she had arrived, which made her feel safe and comfortable. Not only was being late bad enough, it turned out to be one of the worst first dates in history. When Van said his last name was Shannon he was then asked for identification. The food was bad, the drinks were even worse and the service was sub-par at best. However, Van stuck in Shannon's head and she was impressed to find and meet an actual nice guy for once. So she said yes to a second date the next weekend. Chinese food. They started having lunch together during the week, Barnaby's being a particular favorite. Van was a single dad, so dates at night during the week were harder to come by. Weekends became their time together, and by December Shannon met his daughter, Farrah. Talk about love at first sight! Trials, tribulations came and went, either far too depressing or uninteresting to mention. But they persevered through each and every one, learning more from everything. Van has a "count your blessings" approach to things whereas Shannon worries about everything and hates everyone. Time marched on, and by the spring of 2018 they had decided to teach a young, impressionable girl how to live in sin by moving in together. The rest is history...and future.