Whenever people ask them how they met, John will often say: “the algorithms”. One day, Lily saw John’s profile on a dating app and thought, “Who is this goober?” She thought it was a good sign that he had included a lot of details about himself. The app told her they would be a good match and she went, “What the hell, let’s give this guy a shot.”
They went out to their first date at Yogurt City, where he was dressed in a yellow shirt, drove a yellow car and wore a yellow watch. Little did he know Lily is a designer, and Lily would refer to this outfit later on as “too matchy-matchy.” When they were checking out, Lily said something awkward to the cashier and she will never forget how embarrassed she felt in that moment.
They walked up and down Main Street in downtown Royal Oak. He talked about his roommate, his volunteer activities for DRSCCA, and his family. He noticed that she talked less than him, and asked her about what she did in her free time. She mentioned she played percussion in the Schoolcraft Wind Ensemble, and also volunteers as a Webmaster for the Great Lakes JETAA.
Fast forward two months, John asked Lily to meet his parents who were visiting him from Campaign, Illinois. She mustered all her courage and bravery to meet his parents at his friends’ house in Ann Arbor. John’s parents thought Lily was pretty great. John would meet Lily’s parents two weeks later.
In the time since, Lily has introduced John to yoga, 5k runs, good food, good movies, and fun trips to places that aren’t race tracks or parking lots. John is now an amateur yogi, spends much time in the kitchen making inspired dishes, and now watches more movies per month than he used to watch in years. John has introduced Lily to creaky old classic cars, extremely uncomfortable cars prepared for racing, and taken her to exotic places like race tracks, parking lots, and frozen lakes (aka frozen parking lots). Lily has wisely not taken up any car enthusiast or motorsports activities.
John and Lily currently spend their time going on fun weekend trips, the occasional big trip with friends or with family, checking things off their cooking bucket list, and debating on whether they should get a cat or a dog.
