Oh Sacramento

Dear Diary,

How could I have known that the last tequila shot was one too much. Well, Kati and I woke up around 10.00am and got ready for the day after cleaning up the mess the part animals (including yours truly) made. It was a great night. Oh, note to yourself: leftover pizza is still better than fresh one.

Around 12.00om we were looking cute and fresh and decided to not let that day just slip away and so we thought about driving to Sacramento. It is a short 2 hour drive from SanJose so why not? We did some sightseeing, met a friend who we both had known for a longer time and got lunch. And while we were sitting down - eating pizza again, lol - I took out my phone and started swiping on Tinder, most likely still toxcicated from last night. As I was swiping through the Sacramento boys I got caught up in my thoughts about my past really not great dating experiences and remembered to just stop. As my OCD controls my mind I had to make one more swipe to have an even number of swipes. I saw his picture and decided to swipe left but for reasons I still dont know, I swiped right. It was probably still the Tequila talking.

Well guess what: he started texting me with a not that creative pickup line. I already regretted opening that app. I am not cold enough to just delete a match or ghost someone. So I texted back. The small talk was pretty basic but soon we developed an actual conversation about skateboards and (as everybody does) my German background. And now I am laying in bed still kind of chatting with him. But I am already in SanJose again, 2 hours away from the dude I didnt even mean to swipe on.

Fast forward a few days, he gave me his snapchat (which is kinda like giving me his number). We got to know each other. Learned our interests, fears, worries, future plans etc. I checked his tinder profil again and yet, I am not in the slightest attracted to him but the conversations are good and keeping me running on my long work days. I quickly started realizing how he became the only reason to check my phone. Not much later and we started calling each other. Every night. For hours.

Well as every good drama there is a catch. I still saw him as a friend, a buddy, a nice-to-talk-to person. But he developed feelings. And he knew I am not on the same page with him so in order to get his feelings under control he needed a break from texting and calling. Totally understandable right. Right?

It is needless to say that that break didnt really work because now I started missing him. I called and told him that I cant get through a day without talking. So he drove down to me, that same evening, at 8.00pm. We met each other for the first time - at a McDonalds parking lot. Hey, you never know, he could have been a kidnapper and the 24h McDonalds always has customers and staff. At 3am he left for home and I felt so bad for him driving 2h back to Sacramento. The weekend after I went to his place in exchange. Long story short: we were on the same page now.

But thats not how the story ends. My hostfamily told me about moving. I was devastated. I finally met somone who is not at the end of the world or a complete jerk and now we are moving. Like, what are the odds? They never told me about the places they were looking at. I had no clue if we would move to HongKong, Chicago, LA or only next door. For all I know I was allowed to invite him over at the weekend while they were looking at the new house.

It was Saturday afternoon - late evening, when I recieved the text. My hostmum knew about him. She texted me: "It is good having a friend in Sacramento." I freaked out. "Is that a hint?" was all I could reply before kissing him while he was still confused about what was going on.

My 2 hour away miss-match on Tinder is now my 25 minutes away living boyfriend. The way I regretted matching with him in October 2020 is nothing compared to the way I am loving him now - 6 1/2 months into our relationship. <3 I love you bab.

Jolene.

- sometimes, just go with the flow