We met on Bumble—a dating app that was becoming popular at the time though it wasn't being widely used in the gay community. We still joke that there were only three gay guys using Bumble back then (and we hope that other guy is doing great).

We matched midweek, and with only hours left before our match would expire, Nathan messaged first. After chatting back and forth throughout the day, we exchanged numbers. Nathan asked Andrew out, but Andrew was playing hard to get:

“We could maybe do something Sunday afternoon, but I’ll be at a Halloween party Saturday night, so I don’t want to commit just yet. Can we play it by ear?”

“No plans” and “play it by ear” sounded like a recipe for disaster to Nathan, so he booked a backup date for Sunday—complete with earlier plans just in case Andrew never responded.

But he did.

Our first date was at Cedar Creek in Houston, starting around 2 p.m. and continuing until about 9 p.m. after moving to a restaurant down the street.

Ten years later, we’re living in Alaska with our dog, Blanche—and still just as glad that Nathan messaged before that match expired.