I first noticed Thomas while he was officiating a rec basketball game at his work. My son was in the league, and when I saw Thomas on the court, I couldn’t help but think, “He’s cute.” Of course, he had no idea who I was. My friends, however, knew and they weren’t about to let the moment pass. They kept trying to find ways to catch his attention, but nothing worked. Then my best friend dared another friend to go ask for his number for me. She walked right over and said, “My friend thinks you’re cute, can she have your number?” Thomas typed it into her phone, and I thought, This is it. That night, my friends pushed me to text him: “We got his number for you, now it’s your turn!” So I did… only to get an automated message saying I had texted a landline. I was convinced Thomas had given me a fake number, and I figured that was the end of the story. Weeks later, two of my friends told me they’d spotted him on Tinder. They insisted (more like threatened, honestly ) that I make an account so I could connect with him. I protested: “He gave me the wrong number; he’s not going to want to talk to me online.” But they didn’t give up. One evening, I finally caved. I set up a profile, swiped right when I saw him, and went to bed. The next morning, I woke up to a match… and a message. It was Thomas! We started chatting right away, and I sent him my phone number. We texted for about a week, though I was so nervous I could barely eat. Then he asked, “Do you like tacos?” and I knew he was about to ask me out. Sure enough, he did, and we set our first date for 3/20/22 at Taqueria Jalisco. Our lunch date lasted well over two hours and felt like we’d known each other for years. If he hadn’t needed to go officiate another basketball game, it might have lasted even longer. Not long after, Thomas asked me to be his girlfriend in the sweetest way. He pinned a note to his dog, Stella, that read: “Will you be my hooman’s girlfriend?” I said yes, of course. And the rest, as they say, is history.