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 the apps and I immediately appreciated her brand of humor, our mutual love for travel, and her mob wife fashion aesthetic. We met up at Victoria Bar on a Monday 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. We made plans to meet up again on Saturday (and I immediately canceled the two other dates 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, let alone meeting a dozen of her friends at the same time. Especially because some of her friends were legitimately professional singers, haha. 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 these guys.

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 area, which Halley had never been to. It was a joy traveling with her, and we took some goofy pictures flashing Star Trek signs in front of Boba Fett and managed to not get kicked out. 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…decided to say those three words for the first time together in front of an off-brand Panda Express.

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 fun several months; I moved in, the cats were initially totally thrown off having a stranger in the house but warmed up to me after I continued to spoil them, we made custom T-shirts of the cats, we built a giant LEGO cat, we shopped for houses, we had a ton of fun date nights (some of which involved matching jumpsuits).

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.

Travel coming soon!