"How did you two meet?" The dreaded question for a couple that met on Tinder.
Driving to meet my family for the first time, he asked me what we would tell them when they asked. I thought for a second and said "Let's tell them we met in a coffee shop. You saw me sitting in a booth and bought me a coffee." Because of course, that would happen. And it wasn't completely a lie...Our first date was at a Starbucks, and he did buy me a coffee. But the truth is, we talked for months on Tinder before we met at that coffee shop three years ago.
It made me sad that I felt like we couldn't tell people the complete truth. Which is that it was the best first date I had ever been on. As soon as I saw him walk up to me, I knew. After hours of talking to each other, we realized what time it was and laughed saying it felt like no time had passed at all. It was that comfortable sense of feeling like I'd known this person for my entire life. It was calling my best friend on the way home and telling her how different it felt and how I couldn't wait to see him again. It's the getting butterflies every time I see him years later and the complete feeling I have whenever I'm with him. That's the whole truth, and it makes me sad that we waited so long to tell people. It's a love story that just started a little differently from what we've grown up knowing.
It took a few years for us to feel comfortable telling people when they asked, but now it just makes me laugh. Yeah, we met on Tinder. Usually, people will say "Wow, really? That's crazy!" I'll just smile and say "Yeah, it is pretty crazy."
Don't feel embarrassed to tell anyone your love story. Does it really make a difference where you met? If you met at a bar, church, school, work, mutual friends, Tinder, or another dating app - who cares? The point is that the two of you met and it was meant to happen. I've always found comfort knowing that things work out the way they're supposed to. You can't plan how and when you'll meet them, life will figure it out for you. So, instead of judging how you met, smile and be thankful that you did.
