I had just moved to DC after graduation to start a new job. I downloaded Hinge so my roommates and I could have some entertainment for our wine and cheese night. One guy I matched with stood out from the rest - we called him “Putt Putt guy” because he mentioned on his profile he thought a mini golf date would be fun. I was elated the next day when he asked me out for coffee that weekend, but I was also nervous - it was my first date from an app! But I calmed myself by framing it as just a way to spend a Saturday afternoon and to get some more dating experience. Clearly, I was wrong!

I’ll never forget seeing Nick’s face the first time. I got to the bagel shop early and stood out in the hot July afternoon sun sweating buckets as I waited for him, growing more nervous by the second. But then I saw him, I saw his smile, and I felt instantly at ease. We waited forever for our food - turns out they heard our names as Lori and Ian! - and as we chatted, our conversation quickly turned from mildly awkward small talk to something more. We realized we listen to all the same podcasts and something just clicked. That date was nearly four hours and we talked the whole time as we walked down to the mall and saw the entirety of two museums together! As we finally parted, I made sure to set up a second date. Mini golf, of course!

The first thing Lauren said to me was responding to my Hinge prompt about how a putt putt date would be fun. She messaged me saying that mini golf is the best and we should go sometime, and the conversation just took off from there. We texted for a day or two and one night, as I was walking down long bridge in Pentagon City, a walk I often did by my apartment, I worked up the courage to ask Lauren out for coffee at Call Your Mother. We set the date for that Saturday.

That afternoon, I excitedly got on the metro and headed towards DuPont to meet up with her for the date, and as I walked up to the building, I saw her standing out on the corner, and she looked back at me with the biggest most gorgeous smile - I'll never forget it. We walked into the restaurant and ordered some food and grabbed a table. My food took forever, they called both of us the wrong name, and even smashed Lauren's bagel, but we didn't mind at all. We talked and started to get to know each other. The moment everything really clicked was when I mentioned I enjoyed podcasts and we then started listing all the one we both liked and they were all the same ones. The conversation flowed from there and we extended the date several times to keep it from ending. We headed down to the Renwick Art Museum where she told me how much she enjoyed dogs and cats, and has always wanted a grandfather clock, and then we walked around the mall where we both melted in the DC July heat and discussed TV shows and movies we enjoyed. We went into the American history museum and walked through every exhibit. Talking and getting to know Lauren was so much fun I wasn't even looking at the exhibits (though we did take some moments to enjoy the sea shanties, trains, weird presidential chess boards, and machines I wasn’t supposed to touch haha) and as it approached closing time, and we were in the fourth hour of our date, we headed back outside towards the metro. I had had so much fun with her all day that I was sad for the day to be ending, but then Lauren looked at me and said, you know we haven't had that putt putt date yet. We looked through our calendars and set a date for that Wednesday. I hugged her goodbye on the metro and when I got home, I excitedly texted her to set up the details.

We messaged every day after that. We had a great time at the course, a nice dinner at a Thai spot, and a lovely walk around Ballston, and afterwards we set up our third date, and then a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth...Those first few weeks were such a wonderful whirlwind of exploring the city and talking endlessly together. After a few weeks I asked her to be my girlfriend on July 19th and we've been together ever since. I love being with her, exploring the city, going to movies, hiking, talking, cooking, and just everything with her. The fun conversations, and the hard ones, whenever we’re together it’s just everything.

Lauren is the most amazing person ever and as we continue to spend more and more time together, it's just been fantastic experiencing everything together. As we fell in love, it's just always been so wonderful to imagine ourselves together forever, and to think of how it all started a year ago with a quick message and delightful July afternoon. I can’t wait to marry Lauren next July and see another one of her smiles I’ll never forget.