How did we meet?

Ulysses

After I graduated college, I moved to Washington, DC to start a new job. I was single, and I had just met a girl who had been admitted to the postbaccalaureate program at the National Institute of Health. We were both young professionals in a new city. She was clearly smart and ambitious, and we seemed to hit it off, so I got her number and later asked her out on a date.

The date was incredibly awkward, most of the day was just spent sitting there in silence. We realized we had very different personalities, totally different senses of humor, and we didn't actually have that much in common. After the date had ended, I dropped her off, and didn't hear back for a few days.

That girl I went on a date with was, of course, not Anna Oliverio, but she was the one who introduced me to her.

Anna

“He's kinda cute isn't he,” she said handing me her phone. “He was really sweet, but we didn't hit it off after the first date. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I gave him your number. He reminded me a lot of you and I think you guys would be a good match”

“Here we go,” I thought to myself. I knew where this was going. My coworkers at my internship have been having fun searching for someone to match me with after I told them I never had a boyfriend before.

I glanced at the bright screen of photos with skepticism. “Okay. Since you've already met him, and say he's a decent guy, I don't see the harm in giving him my number.”

Ulysses

She finally texted me back, "Listen," she said, "you're a nice guy and all, but I really don't think it's going anywhere." I couldn't help but agree. "Yea," I replied. As typing a message explaining that there were no hard feelings, and that things just happen sometimes, I hear another ding on my phone. "You know, you're really weird..." she typed. I was a bit shocked with how blunt she was before she quickly followed up "Wait! No! It's ok!" she said, reassuringly, "because I have a friend who's also really weird!"

On one of my first dates with Anna, we spent all day at the museums. First, I took her to the Air and Space museum, where I got to share my love of space and aviation. As a bit of a scifi nerd growing up who loved learning about NASA and watching Star Trek, that museum had always been my favorite.

But Anna was a biologist. So naturally, when it was her turn, she took me to the Natural History museum. She was so excited to show me their trilobite exhibit!

What the heck is a trilobite?

I'd certainly never heard of them. Are they some kind of fossils of awesome Dinosaur, maybe from the Cretaceous period? Or perhaps some furry little mammal that she'd always found especially adorable?

It turned out, trilobites are none of those things. But when I saw how much her face lit up as she geeked out over something that most people would think is just weird, I knew I'd found something special.

Anna

Maybe it was because I was curious to give it a shot. Maybe there was a tiny part of me that wanted to prove my scheming matchmaking friends wrong. But, what I wasn’t prepared for at all was how this one little decision ended up changing my life forever. And I couldn't be more thankful that I actually proved my friends right after all.