If you let me tell the story, I like to start somewhere in the middle— Picture this: I’m running late, as usual, and I stumble into this trendy coffee shop in a rather questionable Miami neighborhood. And there he is—tall, bald, handsome, in a perfectly fitted blue denim shirt with the most mesmerizing eyes to match. Honestly, he looked like he stepped out of a magazine, and I was just hoping my hair didn’t look too chaotic from my rush. He holds the door open for me, and I can’t help but feel a little swoon. Then, he asked what I’d like to drink. I’m flustered, so I blurt out, “I’ll have a freshly brewed iced tea, please!” In retrospect, not my finest moment. If you know me, you know I’m a whole lotta sugar kind of gal—or at least I was. I take a sip of my iced tea, and it’s as bitter as my nerves. Meanwhile, he’s sipping on his black iced coffee, looking all cool and collected, while I’m trying to mask my grimace. He starts talking, I was captivated—not by the actual words, but by the sound of his voice. It was like listening to my favorite song. I can’t even remember what he was saying, I was so entranced. So, I guess I can say he had me at whatever he was saying. Romantic, huh? But here’s the twist: that romantic coffee shop encounter took place after he swiped right on Hinge. Not the most romantic start I know, which is why I prefer to kick things off at the coffee shop. To give you the full picture, just a few nights before I was sitting in a mall parking lot with my best friend Debbie. I opened the app to give her a quick tutorial before I deleted it, and there it was—his pending request. I debated with Deb about whether I should swipe back. He lived in Miami, and the only reason he saw my profile was because my subscription had just expired, deleting all my criteria, including the 30-mile radius from Boca Raton where I lived. Debbie looked at me like I was crazy for even hesitating, we spent 30 mins dissecting his profile before I concluded he could be a Miami exception, but I wasn’t about to swipe right immediately—I didn’t want to seem “thirsty”, I waited until that night to pull the trigger. The next morning, I woke up to a message inviting me for coffee the very next day. I accepted. And here we are, folks! From a bitter iced tea to planning our wedding, all thanks to a swipe, and maybe a little bit of cosmic luck.