As a HINGE connects a door to a frame, we were instantly locked in from the very first date — although I tried to play it cool (emphasis on tried). It was just a casual coffee shop off Ella, but hours in, I had that unmistakable “uh-oh-this-could-be-something” feeling… so naturally, I acted mildly disinterested to keep my cool points. By the end of the date, cool points be damned — I had to ask for date #2. I even sent some Afrobeats, hoping she’d catch the not-so-subtle hint that I was vibing hard and dreaming of something real.. SOMETHING DIFFERENT (*cough*AG* cough*). Fast forward through 115 consecutive days of music-sharing (yes, we counted), we made it “official.” Since then, we’ve done everything from serving together at church, crushing NYT games (and pretending not to be competitive), surviving the wedding circuit, and blending our families with so much love (and food). We’ve become pros at surprising each other, semi-functional dog parents to Manu (who, let’s be honest, brings us way more joy than the soccer team he’s named after), and we’ve graciously accepted our friends’ not-so-subtle threats to never break up. Now here we are — still dancing to playlists, still laughing, still choosing each other, and completely unable to imagine life without one another. And honestly? We wouldn’t have it any other way.