Once upon a time there was a man with a beard and a girl who wanted a man with beard...

Dating in your late twenties is difficult and all around not pleasant. We had both given dating apps and sites a try, with zero luck. I truly had always envisioned myself meeting someone through friends, or friends of friends, and had mostly stopped looking until one day a colleague (and dear friend) opened my classroom door and said, "Hey, are you looking for a relationship?"

I wasn't sure - to be fully honest - but I was open to the idea if it felt right. That same day, I went over to said friend's house to get more info about this mystery man. She showed me a picture and my jaw dropped when I mentally transported to car shopping two years earlier, when none other than Dan himself had given me a test drive with my best friend (where I remember thinking he was pretty cute). I told her it was okay to give him my phone number, and just see what happened.

In similar fashion, it was just another day for Daniel at the dealership when the same friend's mother (who works with Dan) said to him, "Hey, my granddaughter's teacher is single, and I think you'd like her."

A few weeks later, at the Ford dealership Holiday Party, they gave Dan my number and he texted me the very next day. Neither of us knew that that seemingly simple text message would change the trajectory of our lives. Since that day, we've made countless memories, eaten a lot of Flaming Crab, taken once in a lifetime trips around the world, played a lot of pool at Hunter's, cheered for the Giants even when they didn't deserve it, and shared millions of laughs with each other.

We are lucky enough to get to continue doing our most favorite things with our most favorite people (each other), for the rest of our lives. And we owe it all to the universe's timing, and the world's best matchmaking mother-daughter duo there is.