I met the love of my life in April of 2021. I knew she was the love of my life before I even met her.

I was hesitant to download a dating app. I had been single for almost 2 years after the end of a long-term relationship and was focused on spending my time rediscovering myself and prioritizing my needs and passions. It was a deeply liberating and fulfilling time for me. I learned to love this version of myself so much that I wanted to meet someone who would truly enhance and enrich the life I had cultivated. I wasn’t looking for shallow or surface-level relationships. I was ready to welcome a meaningful connection. I was ready to find someone to spend the rest of my life with.

Because I had spent so much time feeling unsatisfied with my previous relationship, I decided that I would never again settle for anything that wasn’t everything I dreamed of. I knew exactly what I wanted and exactly what I didn’t. I wrote it all down in great detail and made a commitment that I wouldn’t compromise this for anyone, even if it meant being single for the rest of my life. I also knew that I wasn’t asking for anything I wasn’t willing to offer. I would read this out loud every other night and felt confident that the right person would come into my life at the right time. There was no pressure or desperation.

When I downloaded this particular dating app, I was fond of the fact that there were mandatory prompts to add on your profile, which provided glimpses of personality and intellect. When I came across Alexa’s page, I was captivated by her beauty, but also her answers. I specifically remember her mentioning her love for space and astrology. I often spent nights admiring the moon through my telescope. I was ecstatic when we matched. 

I was drawn to her instantly. We took the conversation from the app to social media, and exchanged numbers shortly after that. Our text messages turned into paragraphs, then essays, then audio messages. There was an undeniable feeling that I had known this person my entire life. Our conversations were both effortless and meaningful. She embodied everything I had asked for in a partner.

I remember feeling like our first date couldn’t come soon enough. We lived in different cities at the time, about an hour away from each other. My work schedule was crazy, as I was running a fairly new business. She was just as busy, studying aggressively for the National Physical Therapy Examination. When we finally picked a day to meet in person, it was all I could think about.

By that point I had learned quite a lot about her, so I planned a date full of her favorite things. We would start the day by going to an art gallery, followed by a picnic in a beautiful park next to a lake, and ending with dinner at an eclectic restaurant with live music. 

When the day finally came, I was a ball of nerves and excitement. I wanted everything to go perfectly. I knew this day would be special, so as I waited for her to arrive, I wrote a quick journal entry on my notes app.

“The date is Saturday, 4/10/2021. Meeting my baby for the first time. Nervous, excited, hot. Every time someone walks through the doors my heart drops a little. I hope today goes even better than I’ve been imagining, and that this is only the beginning of our beautiful love story.“

When I first saw her, I was blown away by how beautiful she was in person. All the nerves melted away the moment she took my hand into hers. Suddenly, I was overcome by warmth and comfort. It felt like home.

The most magical part of our date happened at the art gallery. We had deemed the red cardinal as a symbol of our connection. I was on the phone with her once while hanging out in the backyard, when a cardinal flew down from a tree to the grass right in front of me. Ever since then, cardinals seemed to follow her and I everywhere we went. At the art gallery, we were admiring a painting that was titled, “Love At First Sight” with 2 birds as the main subjects. Alexa turned to me and asked, “Do you believe in love at first sight?” The question caught me off guard and immediately made me nervous, which caused me to dig my hands into my pockets as I stumbled for a response. I felt something crinkle in my fingers, so I pulled it out of my pocket to find an empty wrapper with a red cardinal on it. It turns out there’s a brand of peppermint candies called “Red Bird.” I honestly have no idea how that wrapper got inside my pocket to this day. I have no recollection of ever taking or eating that mint. I think that wrapper was there to speak the words I couldn’t say.

After the art gallery, we drove to the park to have our picnic. It had been a beautiful, sunny day up until that point. We got out of the car and walked down a wooden ramp that led to a gazebo in the middle of the lake. The view was stunning. We looked at each other and embraced in a long hug. I think that was the most physically intimate we had been all day. Out of nowhere, we felt a strong a gust of wind that sent leaves and branches flying everywhere. The sky darkened as giant raindrops started to pound the earth. Alarmed, we ran back to the car as fast as we could while the wind grew more intense. It was the craziest thing. We think it was the universe’s way of celebrating the fact that we finally found each other.

The picnic itself was kind of a flop. Not only could we not enjoy it by the lake due to the mysterious storm, but I had packed cheese and crackers, not knowing that Alexa was lactose intolerant. Oops. Dinner was around the corner, so it was probably for the best. We ended up having our “picnic” of canned wine and plain crackers in the backseat of my car, which was actually a great opportunity to get cozy. It led to our first kiss. Words could never come close to describing what it felt like, so jet’s just say it was pure magic.

Still dizzy from that kiss, we floated to dinner, and the conversation continued to flow effortlessly the same way it always had through the phone. Being next to each other felt so natural and safe. I couldn’t get enough of her presence.

Needless to say, we saw each other again 2 days after our first date, then again 2 days later, and the pattern pretty much continued in typical lesbian fashion. We made the relationship official about 2 weeks after we met in person. “I love you” happened right around the same time. I was driving on the highway when Alexa turned to me and shocked me with her confession. Not that I didn’t already suspect she felt that way, I just wasn’t expecting it in that moment as I was going 65mph. I think I forgot how to breathe for a second and almost missed our exit. My heart was going faster than the tires. Of course I said it back. I had felt it from the moment I heard her voice, before we even met.

A few months later, we were living together. It kind of worked out perfectly because she was planning on moving to the city I was living in once she passed her exam anyway. None of it felt rushed or forced. It was all very organic and simply felt right. 

One day, I decided to tell Alexa about the entry I had written before I met her, in which I described the partner I wanted in detail. It was astounding because she fit the description to a T, and I wanted her to know. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped when I told her. It turns out she had also written a detailed description of the person she wanted in her life. Of course we had to read what we each wrote to one another. The words were almost identical in so many parts. It covered us in goosebumps. We had literally manifested each other.

Alexa and I will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary on 4/22/2025. To this day, we continue to have magical experiences that affirm how much we are meant to be. It makes us smile every time. We’ve grown stronger and better as individuals and as partners. Our families have merged just as effortlessly, and we all come together as often as we can. 

We just realized one of our biggest dreams of moving to the west coast together. We bought an RV and plan to travel as much as we can, which is one of our shared passions. Life together has been nothing short of adventurous and rewarding. My heart has never been so full. I live every day with gratitude for having Alexa by my side.

I share this story because the kind of love I described is the kind of love we are all meant to experience. I believe everyone deserves to find a partner who makes their heart explode with happiness.

Every time you settle for something less than what you desire, every time you stay because it’s easier than leaving, every time you convince yourself that you can fix “this” or they can change “that,” you distance yourself from the magic.

Declare the love you want. Be the love you seek. Welcome the love you deserve.