How we Met.

*Thanks to Match.com for sponsoring this post! As always, all opinions are entirely my own.

Unless you sat through our fun little video triage, I never hopped over to the blog to spill the beans on how J and I met and how we actually got to courting, or whatever kids call it nowadays. HA. I figured it’s about time to share, especially in the spirit of Match.com’s 20th anniversary. Did we meet on Match.com? Nope. But sharing is caring, and this will come full circle so stick with me here.

So, backing it up to 2012, I did a pre-freshmen program at Penn for the month preceding my freshman year (It. Was. Awesome.), where J was basically a leader. Naturally, that’s where our love story began – completely unexpectedly, I might add, since the last thing I said to my mom before move-in was, “Welp, looks like I’ll be single for the next four years.” (Penn has a notorious “hookup culture,” of which I wasn’t too keen on being a part.) I’ll keep the details short n’ sweet here since we told all over on my YouTube channel, but the main points here are as follows:

  1. We kept things totally platonic, just stealing looks and little chats in throughout the program as we could.
  2. I purposefully got a bowling lane next to him on bowling night. Why, I have no stinkin’ idea, since I’m the worst bowler in the history of bowling. #bumperlife
  3. I finally convinced him to accept my Facebook friend request. Was I desperate? Nope, just in love.
  4. By the time the program was about to end, I also convinced him to utilize my phone number.

At this point, most some would probably say I was totally bonkers pushing sohard for a guy and making all the moves. But no, I just knew guys I swear. Before PFP let out and the school year began, we had been messaging songs back and forth and just loosely getting to know each other and test the waters before actually doing anything that would remotely imply we were more than friends.

youandme

Our first ever picture together, ever. Circa 2012.

We each could take a really educated guess on how the other felt based on our non-verbals, because we’re both just good like that. But here’s what I find kinda funny about it now looking back on how it all began.

We were so digital.

I’d always sworn off of any sort of “dating” app or website, thinking that you never really get the full picture of someone online, and thinking I’d be the one to get catfished. But then I realized I might be totally wrong. J and I spent most of our first weeks getting to know each other through Facebook – and eventually texting – because we were in a setting where it’d be most likely frowned upon to date the dude in charge.

I was right in thinking you don’t get the full picture of someone online. But you do get to see how someone portrays their best self and how they want you to see them. You see what they’ve pinpointed as their most important qualities, and those things that jump out as “this is who I am.” It doesn’t paint the whole picture, but it gives you a heckuvah good primer for what’s to come and a great taste of what’s in store if you choose to continue with things offline.

When my generation’s parents were dating, they could just sneak out at night to go on a walk and chat. But everyone could also keep their doors unlocked and neighbors would bake you pies and bring you homegrown vegetables. Today’s world is a variation of that, because dating is evolving just as anything else in life.

And my own viewpoint on online dating has evolved a LOT. Now I get it. Those people who’ve been through the ringer a few times already and just have full, busy lives? Match.com is where it’s at. The story of the first ever Match.com couple is actually pretty darn cute; Bill and Freddi used the site to find their own true love with one another after years of “kissing frogs” and not having things gel. Now, we’re celebrating turning frogs into princes and creating happily ever afters for more than 10 million relationships in the last 20 years. #hollah

match.com 20th anniversary

In the last 20 years (so for nearly as long as my time on this planet – whoa now)…

  • More than 125 million people have joined Match
  • Match has created more than a quarter of a billion matches
  • Match users have sent more than 4 billion winks and emails
  • More than 20 million people have used Match through a mobile device
  • Match has created more than 10 million relationships
  • Match has “made” more than 1 million babies

And the predictions for the next 20?

  • 2 out of 3 relationships and more than half of all marriages will begin online.
  • The single population will nearly double.

In an entrepreneurship class I’m currently in, I’ve been working on a project team to develop an app and brand that is essential Match.com’s younger, collegiate counterpart – proof that I’m totally on board for these digital hubs that provide good grounds for people to meet their match. So now I wanna know…

How did you meet your match? Have you online dated before, and if so…what happened?!

Now I’m off to sip my iced coffee and eat chips n’ guac, because Monday. Coming up on Wednesday are some Links I Love that are really quite amazeballs. AND OMG OMG OMG. Did you see?!?! You can now subscribe to get additional inspiration, fun, and pretty things delivered straight to your inbox so you never miss a beat. Once a week, easy peasy, all the fun minus the wine, because that’s on you. I hope you sign yourself up! Now go make someone’s day.

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