Lucy and I met in the most old‑fashioned way imaginable: Match.com. Not an app — Match Dot Com. We were both busy people with real careers and real obligations, so we turned to technology to help us find what turned out to be… each other. It took a little while before we connected — about two or three months from my first message to Lucy’s first reply.

I happened to be traveling in the UK for work when we finally started exchanging messages and set our first date. We agreed to meet the very day I flew back from London — just hours after I landed. I rushed home from the airport, showered, changed, and headed right back out to meet Lucy for the first time at Le Grand Bistro American in Kirkland.

We met at 7 PM on April 17, 2016. We closed the restaurant. Last people out. I pushed for a next date, and a next‑next date, and so on. Somehow, we were always the last people out.

What began as a series of intriguing conversations with a smart, hilarious, and engaging woman quickly grew into something more. By mid‑June, we were hosting our first couples’ dinner with friends. Soon after, I told Lucy I loved her — and she told me she loved me too.

Since that first date, we’ve celebrated, traveled, stayed home, drank coffee, laughed, cried, triumphed, struggled, shared dessert, hit milestones, missed each other, gotten sick of each other, and been inseparable… yes, inseparable.

Simply put, our lives have been better together. My life is certainly better because I have Lucy in it. And I know she feels the same — that my life is better because of her. 😉

For ten years, we’ve celebrated April 17 as our “anniversary,” but this year was the last of those celebrations. We’ll be saying our “I do’s” in front of friends and family on October 17, 2026, and setting a new anniversary to look forward to.

We can’t wait to share that day with you.

~ Noah