Let me tell you a story about rules, and how mine completely went out the window when I met Halley 🪟.

I had just gotten out of a relationship and I was dreading getting back on the dating apps 😿. Halley and I connected the day I started back up on Bumble and she was a standout with her brand of humor, love of travel, and impeccable grammar and punctuation👌. I broke my normal rule of not going back and forth too much before the first date because I so enjoyed chatting with her. We met up at Victoria Bar on a Monday evening and talked for hours 🍷. I immediately felt so comfortable with her and the conversation flowed so naturally. I didn’t want the night to end.

After I walked her to her car, I really wanted to kiss her but as a rule I avoid kissing on the first date 🚫. I regretted that even the next day. We made plans to meet up again on Saturday (and I immediately canceled the other date I had lined up that week because I didn't want to see anyone else). But I just couldn’t wait until Saturday, so I asked her if she could get coffee on Wednesday. And then we met up Thursday. And Friday. And went to the Japanese Garden on Saturday, then the Light Festival that night. And pretty quickly we were inseparable 🧲.

She invited me to karaoke for her birthday after we’d been together for a week, and I omitted mentioning how, as a rule, I don’t really do karaoke because it terrifies me 😬, on top of the idea of meeting a dozen of her friends at the same time. Especially because some of her friends were legitimately professional singers. But good people know good people and her friends were so funny and friendly and put me at ease. I had a blast and actually couldn’t wait to do more karaoke with them 🎤. Even if my nerdy song choices didn't get their full deserved appreciation.

The next week, I needed to fly down to LA to do my Global Entry interview, and I had a crazy idea that we could go to Disneyland and check out the Star Wars park, which Halley had never been to. I was stoked when she agreed to said crazy idea, and it was a joy traveling with her. I had this goofy idea to get a picture with Boba Fett while flashing Star Trek signs and I loved that she was down for it 🖖. We couldn't stop laughing afterwards. I was developing strong feelings, but as a rule, I wanted to wait at least 3 months before saying “I love you.” We had worked around this by using phrases like “I adore you,” “I’m very, very into you,” but those just aren’t quite the same. Waiting for our flight back, Halley broached that subject, and…we decided to say those three words for the first time to each other in front of an off-brand airport Panda Express we had just ordered from.

And that was when I realized…rules are dumb when you’ve met your person, and I was absolutely certain I’d met the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. What followed was a whirlwind romance; I moved in 📦, the cats were initially totally thrown off having an extra human in the house but warmed up to me, we made custom T-shirts of the cats, we shopped for houses 🏠, we had a ton of fun date nights, many involving matching outfits, we went line dancing, did trivia with my friends, spent more time with her friends, I got to know her wonderful and hilarious family, we went to one of her mom's plays that we didn't really understand but it inspired lots of Jason Bourne memes, we took several more trips to San Francisco, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara...and we talked about when we wanted to get married. To which I answered, "I'd literally get married tomorrow."

So long story short, I proposed at Haystack Rock and here we are 💍. I absolutely knew she was my person because after she finished crying, she said, "we need to call State Farm tomorrow and add this to our policy." We have the EXACT SAME ANXIETIES 😬😂.

I appreciate so much that Halley and I can have deep, vulnerable conversations and also have so much shared laughter and hilarity. I've never met someone who I communicate so well with and vice-versa. In her I've found my best friend, lover, travel partner, cat mom, Millenium Falcon copilot, and I'm so excited for this next chapter for us. If you're reading this, thanks for being a part of it 🙏.

The Venue