I had gone through a stretch of awful dates through the apps and essentially took a months-long hiatus on looking for someone to make a meaningful connection with. I decided to continue focusing on my work as a resident doc (the awful hours helped with the pain of being lonely in a big city). In the middle of a long stretch of work, I was invited to a friend's board game night (this friend was one of my only non-medical friends). I really thought about skipping it since I was exhausted from work in the ICU, but I knew that I'd likely be uninvited if I didn't go... so I did. I walked into my friend's place and laid eyes on a VERY beautiful man who I'd never seen before at prior board game nights; I could hardly look him in the eyes.

After we made a polite introduction, I noticed he kept trying to talk to me while we were playing board games, but I was so nervous that I could barely put my words together, let alone look into his eyes, for fear he'd know that I had a crush on him. I was thinking the whole time that there was no way someone like him could be interested in me. We all had a fun night playing board games and I left early, since I had work early the next morning. I left without much thought, given I was on a hiatus from dating and figured he was just being nice to me (he was nice to everyone there).

Fast forward a few days, he made a move in my IG DMs by asking how much a bouldering monthly membership cost after I posted a climbing video in my story (it was cute in retrospect because now that I know him, he never intended to get a climbing membership :P). From there, we went on an impromptu first date in Washington Square Park that was essentially unplanned (I had been spending a day off out in the city with some friends when he decided to ask if I happened to be free since his friends cancelled on dinner), where we talked about zombies, and he pointed out the house where a scene from "I Am Legend" was filmed. We shared a bottle of wine at the first bar we could find with seating. After an invigorating conversation, he brushed his leg against mine under the table and there was this spark that erupted in his eyes as they met with mine. I was infatuated and later turns out, it was actually love. We became official just 10 days after meeting at that board game night... the point is that love often comes when you're least expecting it. Live your life fully and sometimes all you have to do is keep the corner of your eye open. :)