Wife and I met on Tinder. I’d been on it a while and been on a lot of dates. Never really met anyone I liked. Was about to turn it off for at least 12 months and take a break. At 33 was also kind of coming to terms with the idea I wouldn’t meet someone young enough to have the chance of a family and was planning how I’d make the most of my life through travel and hobbies. She had just joined and only been on one date. And was really hesitant about online dating. We matched. It sounds cliche but it seemed promising and I said just one more and I’m done. We met for a drink. We got along great but I wasn’t expecting a date. I’d had a few like that. No doubt genuinely great dates for both of us but later they declined. Have a feeling I didn’t tick certain boxes for them like height, etc which is a great shame. Anyway, when we we’re leaving she said she’d like to do it again and so did I. Then she said when? I was shocked and elated. That Sunday we went on a walk, sat in a park and talked for hours. We kissed. Extended the date to dinner. She moved in four months later. Four months after that I came home with the groceries and she told me she was pregnant. I’d already started ring shopping a week earlier and had booked a weekend away to propose. I stuck with the plan. It’s now almost 4 years. We have a 2.5 yr old and 8wk old. And a house in the suburbs. Life is good. I always tell her I regret we didn’t have more time before we started our family. Previous relationships were 3-9 months at most and we never lived or traveled together. But I wouldn’t change anything and she says we will make it up at the other end. Sometimes I think about the life I was beginning to plan and what it would have been like. It would have been great yet unfulfilled and lonely. As hard a young children are I’m happy. I do wish we had met earlier. But.... I don’t think we would have been together. My wife admits I’m not like anyone she has dated before. I’ve seen photos of a few. They are all tall dark and handsome. I’m a short ginger that weighs 60kg. She openly says that it was a huge part of the problem and why she hadn’t met anyone. Not that there aren’t great tall dark handsome guys out there. Just that the filter she didn’t know she had meant a lot like me were probably overlooked. I found out later she had gone home after our first drink. Called her mum and said she had met someone and deleted tinder. There was another guy she was chatting with. They planned to meet as well. He was a paramedic. He had a holiday planned to New Zealand and said he would get in touch after. They never met and she never told him what happened. I often joke that he’s still crying himself to sleep at night wondering what happened to her. So if you’re out there paramedic dude that likes running. I’m sorry.