Celebrate with us

Not your everyday 'we met online' story... It was January. Jacob lived on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, Valerie lived in Seattle. After hours of 'swiping left' (not interested) on our preferred online dating service, both Jacob and Valerie found each other's profiles. Valerie saw a photo of Jacob standing next to a sailboat. And being the logical person she was, thought that even if nothing came out of it, perhaps she would get a boat ride out of the deal. Swipe right (interested). Jacob saw a photo of Valerie from her days in London, out with friends, and a smile that lit up the room. Immediately he knew that he wanted to meet this fun person. Swipe right. He messaged her right away. Right about that time Valerie decided to stop online dating and deleted the app before ever reading the message that Jacob sent. Six months later, in July, Valerie was having a rough summer. The tech company that she had been working for shut down and she had just lost her job. Like many young women do when their self-esteem is waning, she decided to re-download the app that she and Jacob had connected on six months earlier. Lo and behold, Jacob's message was still sitting there in her inbox and she finally decided to reply... By this time, Jacob had changed jobs and moved into Seattle. He was sitting there at his desk when a message popped into his phone from that girl he had matched with six months earlier but never heard from. To this day, he still remembers the message he sent in reply: "Now that's a slow play." One message turned into many. They chatted all day and Jacob learned about Valerie losing her job just two days before. Being the nice guy he was, Jacob offered to meet up with Valerie for drinks as a way for her to get out of her apartment and lift her spirits a little. He promised this wasn't a date. She agreed, but only if she didn't have to dress up. One drink turned into dinner, turned into plans to see a movie the next night. And rest was history.