How I Met My Boyfriend On Tinder (And Why I’m Not Ashamed)

Yeah, I’m serious.

I know, I know, I know. Tinder: the dating app of the millennial generation. Or should I say the hookup app? It is known for being the perfect place to meet your next hookup partner and “get some” when you’re feeling lonely. However, it isn’t exactly known for its great reviews and solid foundation to build a relationship on. Let alone be the place where you meet your soul mate. Some may say I was looking for love in all the wrong places, but if you ask me, I was in the exact right place at the exact right time.

What are the odds right? Even people who aren’t on tinder to necessarily “hookup” tend to not find much more than a fling even if they’re looking for something serious. The old timers might even say that meeting someone online takes away from the authenticity and specialness of meeting “the one.” But if you ask me, love will meet you right where you’re at, exactly when it’s time, and I am living proof.

Now, just because I met my boyfriend on tinder doesn’t mean I swear by it for everyone. But I’m definitely not one to shame it either. Although it’s rare, you CAN find someone you love on Tinder.

I’m not sure what I was doing on the app to be quite honest. Maybe I was curious, or maybe I was lonely, or maybe, it was just meant to be. I don’t know what possessed me to create a tinder account, but I tell you what, I’m sure glad I did.

Neither my boyfriend nor I were looking for hookups. We were both looking for a real relationship. Not just one to pass the time, but one with someone we could see ourselves marrying. Okay okay, so maybe I wasn’t expecting MARRIAGE out of Tinder, but I did want something real.

It’s funny to think that before I met my boyfriend, I never even thought about marriage. I always thought that it was the wrong time, not the wrong person, to make me think about it. And then there was him. And although I don’t plan on marriage anytime soon, I see it happening with him. Actually, I know he’s the man I’m going to marry. So even if you never hear another good thing about tinder, know that there is at least one love story out there worth remembering.

And it’s not that the app was fool proof. Or that we both made awesome first impressions on our fist date. Quite the opposite honestly. We drove around a deadbeat little town with no agenda for several hours until we finally found ourselves walking around the sketchiest mall I’ve ever seen. Not even exaggerating, I’m surprised we didn’t get mugged. Probably not anyone’s idea of romance or the perfect date, and yet… there was no place else I’d rather be.

I still remember when he dropped me off back at my college dorm after our first date. I played it cool as I said goodbye and walked inside, but as soon as I was behind closed doors I whipped out my cell phone and called my mom who just so happens to double as my best friend. “I’m going to marry this boy” I remember telling her. She laughed. Now she’s the one who tells me every time he leaves the house “you’re going to marry that boy” and I’m the one who laughs, because I’ve known all along.

I’m not settling either. I truly didn’t know what being treated like a princess met until I met him. I’ve not once opened my own car door. When he comes to visit he brings me flowers, he even brings my mom some too. He tells me over and over how beautiful I am even when I have no makeup on. And most of all, he loves me with a love I didn’t even know existed until him.

So I guess what I’m trying to say here is this; I met my boyfriend on Tinder and I’m not ashamed. Not in the slightest bit. Sure, it makes me laugh. But the thing about extraordinary love stories, is that they never seem to start the way we had always imagined. So ours started on the hookup site of the millennial generation. So my friends will probably make fun of me the rest of our lives. And that’s okay. We’ll laugh with them. Because love is funny, its unexpected, and it sure is beautiful. Love is worth believing in. And just when I almost lost hope in love all together, it found me in the most unexpected of places. And when love found me, I found the love of my life. So maybe we don’t have a fairytale beginning, but we sure do have a love story that feels like a fairytale to me. So thank you Tinder, and cheers.

Cheers to love always finding a way, and cheers to my little Tinder love story, because a silly little app helped me fall completely and utterly in love. Cheers, to the rest of my life, spent with my very best friend.