One evening mid-July, 2 lonely souls found each other in the most unlikely of places, Hinge. Both of us had almost given up on finding our person, much less the type of love that would grow from that connection. Mike worked nights and I have always been an insomniac, so we started talking while the rest of the population was dead to the world. For weeks, we texted non-stop about anything and everything until Mike finally asked me on a date. The first week of August, we met at a coffee shop in Windsor, CO for the first time. However, it didn’t go as planned… Mike, an introvert by nature got very quiet and I was lucky to get 1-2 full sentences out of him! As many people know, I talk when I’m nervous or confused so I did a lot of the talking. After leaving, I wrote him that we should just be friends. He agreed since that’s how I felt. A week later, he wrote me stating he wouldn’t cross any boundaries and knew I just wanted to be friends, but he was a fighter and wouldn’t give up. He wanted to be “that bolt of lightning that creates a romantic spark, even better, a lightning sprite.”

After that, we texted for a couple of months. We talked about everything until he became the first person I wanted to talk to about anything good, bad, and in-between that happened. Then, the first week of October, I offered him some HelloFresh meals when I had too many in the fridge. After he picked them up, all I could think about was how good it was to see him in person again. Nettie, my cat agreed. If a cat could flirt, she was! That Thursday, Tobias (the kangaroo) passed and I was devastated. Mike made up the excuse to come over at 8pm that night to return my $2 bag! In reality, he just wanted to give me a hug and check on me. Once he left, I knew that was the kind of man I wanted in my life. So, I wrote him the next day to invite him over for dinner on Sunday.

That Saturday, his dog (Phoenix) passed away after dealing with Epilepsy for 8 years. Mike was devastated but still didn’t want to reschedule. For some reason, I felt I needed to say something ahead of him coming over. I wrote him, “Can’t wait for tomorrow, Lightning Sprite.” He knew what that meant and wrote back that he couldn’t wait either. He wrote a little later that night asking if he could come over to just sit and talk. Knowing what it feels like to lose a pet that feels like family, I agreed. When he arrived, he immediately pulled me into a kiss and called me his girlfriend! We sat on the couch that night just talking until 4:30am.

After that, we dated for about 2 months. He then surprised me the first week of December with an engagement ring. He’d planned to propose when he took me to Blossoms of Light in Denver, a Christmas light show at the botanical gardens. But his introverted side took over! So, he ended up asking me once we got back to the house. I was so surprised! When he pulled out the box, I figured it was a locket or promise ring. Nope! He just knew and decided it was silly to waste time dating when he already knew in his heart, I would be his wife.

Since then, our lives have melded seamlessly. We have found we have many things in common, but enough differences to balance everything perfectly. Dating is awful and we both hated it but, if we had to do it all over again to find each other, we would.