first comes hinge, then comes happily every after

Judgment is something I personally struggled with for way too long. My pride and self-righteousness often left me closed-minded and hypercritical of myself, people and circumstances. Those who know me know that I love challenges, so I decided to challenge myself to be less judgemental and really give online dating a fair chance. I figured the best idea was to go on as many dates as possible with guys I would normally say no to. This was not about finding someone, but rather a mission to learn to be more open and less critical. I met some amazing people along the way and through this experience, it broadened my horizon about culture, religion, and people. I knew I didn't want to spend too long being on these sites because it's like another side gig to keep up with all the swipe ups, downs, left, right and such. So as I was nearing the end of my online dating experiment, I mean experience, I gained the interest of yet another dad. I never in a million years imagined myself choosing someone with children, but as soon as I caught myself being judgmental, I knew I needed to at least give it one shot. I figured..."If I'm going to go out with a dad, I'm gonna choose someone that clearly loves their kid" is what I told myself. How I would determine that on a dating profile...I had no clue! Not long after, Jason and I matched and I was taken aback that his profile pictures were mostly of his son. This guy was clearly someone that loved his kid more than anything. Apparently, you can actually find out if a guy really loves their kid on an online dating site. What I thought would be one date turned into essays upon essays of modern-day letter writing "AKA non-stop text messaging" and dates that would last until the wee hours of the night. What I thought would be one encounter has turned out to be a lifetime of forever encounters. What I thought would be an experiment to be less judgmental turned out to be the unveiling of my life partner.

Not really sure where to start. So where does a Single Dad go to safely find the right kind of woman? Turns out it was on the dating app Hinge. Through my search, I ended up landing on this strong-willed adventurous woman with a whole lot of spunk that couldn't stop talking about macrame. What started as a simple hello turned quickly into modern day love letters via iPhone. In our texted conversation, we talked about everything including my pride and joy, my son Wyatt. Soon thereafter, we found ourselves sharing dates and experiences that I never wanted to end. Our dates built for two quickly grew into dates built for three (Wyatt went with us). Now we can't wait for our date nights nor the family dinners we share. It's funny how love finds a way even in the most unconventional of manners. At least that is the little humor we share with one another when thinking about how our love story started. I can't imagine doing anything without Sarah while still being so excited about the future we have up ahead as a couple and a family.