A Tinder Success Story

It’s not every day that you meet your soulmate. Especially on Tinder. Typically, people think of tinder as a site for hookups and, very rarely, a relationship. I know that I used it hoping to find a relationship, and that is exactly what I had found.

It was November 12th, 2017. I was extremely hungover and bored out of my mind at a house party with my grandma and my mother, so I decided to pull up Tinder. I had decided that I wasn’t going to really look for anything anymore, and just played around, swiping left and right on random people. That is, until I came across John.

His first picture was him crouching on top of a closet. His bio showed that he was a liberal, a “plant nerd,” and that he loved Marlboro Reds, and that he had licked the White House once. I swiped right immediately, knowing that this was no longer a game for me. He was different, and I could tell.

Within a few minutes, we matched. I was surprised because I’m not a very attractive person, and he, well, he is. He messaged first, and I teased him by copying his spelling error “heu,” then apologized and we went into talking.

He gave me his Snapchat, and we constantly were talking. He went to a trade school where they weren’t allowed to have their phones during class or anything, yet he still texted me. The day after we matched and started talking, he told me that I was "hella cute." The next day he spammed my Snapchat until I woke up, telling me he missed me. Usually I would have thought it was weird, but it was something about him that just kept pulling me to him. He then asked me if I wanted to go to the Philadelphia Flower Show in March, which was months away. I knew at that moment that he was different.

We agreed that we both would meet over our Thanksgiving breaks, and he would drive up to my hometown which was 40 minutes away from where he lived, since I did not drive. November 24th 2017, around 11 in the afternoon, he pulled onto my street in his Black Honda Accord, and all the butterflies that I had in my stomach suddenly disappeared as I got into his car.

We barely spoke two words other than "hi" before he pulled me to him and kissed me while parked in the middle of the street with no blinkers on. The moment our lips had met, sparks had flew. It was like a fairy tale kiss, where your foot pops up, but I was sitting down so my foot could not pop up.

We stopped at a Wawa first so we could both get breakfast, then drove to the Arboretum by my house, just like we had planned. He ate his food and I drank my coffee before we got out of the car and walked around, sharing a cigarette. The entire time we walked around, he pointed out the trees, telling me what type they were and how easy some were to climb, and then he would point out plants that would need to be trimmed or taken care of. The entire time he held my hand and a smile would not leave my face.

The time rolled around for when the museum opened, and we went inside, and he found a motorcycle display, and an interactive one that was meant for kids, but he climbed onto that bike, all 6 foot 1 of him, and had the time of his life, all while I teased him and laughed with him. We went through the display, then moved on to the more sophisticated artworks, and that's when he kissed me again. He wouldn't let go of me, and kept his arms around me the entire time, as if he was afraid to let go, and I didn't want him to let go. We fit together like a key fits into the proper lock, and I didn't ever want the moment to end.

He kissed me in between the paintings—which had always been a dream of mine—kissed me whenever I would look up at him, and kissed me whenever people would look at us. The more passionate kisses were saved for when we were the only ones who were in the room with the exhibit.

There were no pictures allowed to be taken of the art, yet I saw a mirror that was apart of an exhibit, and dragged him over to it. I demanded that we should take a picture together, and so he teased me for taking a picture of us, and turned me around and kissed me, telling me I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the art.

The date ended too soon, yet we promised that we would see each other again. Just a few minutes after he left, he snapped me, telling me that he missed me. I realized that I had missed him too.

The next week, I got sick, and grew terrified that I would not be able to see him, for he planned on coming to my campus for my nineteenth birthday. He told me that he didn't care if he got sick, he just wanted to see me. My friends would not hear the end of me talking about John. At one point we were walking to the dining hall and my friend told me that the only reason I was warm was because his messages kept me warm.

December 1st rolled around, and I was frantically trying to find someone to sign him in so he could sleep over because opposite sex was not allowed to stay overnight until the next semester. My friend agreed, and I set off in the cold with a fever to go greet John.

We parked his car in the freshmen lot and then went across campus again, stopping because I thought I was going to get sick. The entire time he kept his hand in mine, making sure I was okay. He even kissed me, not caring that I was sick, and possibly contagious. That night was the first night we had sex, and I knew that from then on, everything with him was different.

December 12th, I realized that I loved him. He had a horrible day at school, and was talking about wanting to die. I burst into tears the moment he said he wanted to, because I didn't want to imagine life without him. I'm a Sagittarius, and I have noticed I fall for people quickly, and hard. But with him, this falling was different. I fell hard and very fast, less than a month. When I realized that I had loved him, and hearing him say that he wanted it to all end, I knew that I could not lose him.

We saw each other again on December 22nd, 2017. I was nervous this time, because I loved him, and he didn't know that I did. Plus, we still were not official. I was scared that I had fallen for him, and he just didn't want me until we were driving back from Wawa and he said he had told his friends that he wanted to see his girlfriend—me. I perked up, and asked if that was his way of asking me to be his girlfriend, and he said yes. I kissed him, and almost cried because I was so happy.

December 27th we met up again, just two days after Christmas. We were in a parking garage, and I had fallen asleep. I had a small nightmare, and he woke me up. I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck and started to fall asleep again when I heard him say "I love you." I sat up, not sure what I heard, and asked what he said. He repeated it, and I quickly said it back, before grabbing his face and kissing him. I love you was repeated many times that day, no matter what was happening. I love you, I love you, I love you.

He took me to his house in January, and I met his dog and his sister. We had to sneak around the house keeper, and we had a day in his town. It was perfect, and ended too soon. Then we had a day in my house, and we talked about marriage. January 3rd 2018, we went to Walmart and got me a promise ring, and I gave him a ring that meant a lot to me, and had stars and moons on it. This was our promise to each other that we would get married.

In February, he came, and I constantly reminded him to bring the ring. He sadly forgot it, but I made due. I had set up a cute dinner for us, and proposed to him with a rose quartz rock, and he said yes. That night I made him watch my favorite movie, Moulin Rouge!, and we decided that "Come What May" was to be our first dance song.

March rolled around, and we finally attended the Flower Show. He had hyped it up the entire time we had been together, and it lived up to the hype, plus his school's exhibit won gold! I was so proud of him, and I still am to this day.

March 24th, he was done with school and came up to see me again, and he officially met my parents. I gave him two tattoos that weekend, and he gave me one that I had always wanted and never knew why- a "J." As he was putting the J on my side boob, it all clicked into place. The "J" was for John. My soul mate.

He and I celebrate five months of being together today, May 22nd, 2018. We have faced many uphill climbs, from his family to my family, but we still keep pushing through it. We have planned to get married in 2019 after we move in together, and he is due to pop the question any month now since he promised he would.

Not all Tinder stories are successful, but ours is. And I know that I will love him for the rest of my life, and will stay beside him, and live our fairy tale life together. I've never loved someone as much as I have loved him, and I cannot wait to see him walk across the stage on June 1st and receive his diploma, showing he finished three hard years of trade school, and start our life together officially.