In May of 2014 I was newly single and ready to find a “nice, hookup boy” to date, but not necessarily one to settle down with. I didn’t live in a predominantly hookup area (Tampa, FL), so I signed up for 100hookup to see if there were any eligible bachelors in my area whom I could connect with. At the end of my second week on 100hookup, I received a message from a very good-looking gentleman named Jason who lived and worked 1,000 miles away from me in New Jersey. I figured I had nothing to lose and wrote him back instantly. Over the next two days our messaging back and forth on the site was constant. We instantly clicked and decided to have our first phone date Wednesday night when we got home from work. We spoke all night Wednesday, all day Thursday, and on Friday he called me on my lunch break…

He asked what I had planned that weekend. I responded, “Nothing much, probably going to the beach Saturday and Sunday. Why what’s up?” What he said next was probably one of the ballsiest things anyone has ever said to me. He replied, “There is just something different about you. I don’t know what it is, but I need to come meet you. There is a flight out of Newark tonight that lands in Tampa around midnight. Can I come stay the weekend with you? I need to come meet you…” Naturally shocked, I took a moment before I replied, “Why not? Book it. We have nothing to lose!”

I had mixed feelings of panic and excitement the rest of the day and night before I went to pick him up. We had only been talking for a few days. Was I out of my mind letting him come stay the weekend?!

As I pulled up to Tampa International Airport, I was absolutely terrified. However, as soon I spotted him waiting for me under the “Arrival” sign, a huge smile grew across on my face. It didn’t feel like a stranger was getting into my car, but rather someone I had known my entire life. We were comfortable with each other and the conversation flowed naturally even though we had just met in person. Not ready to head back to my apartment, I drove us to The University of Tampa (my alma mater) so we could walk along the river that divided the campus from Tampa’s small downtown. On our way back to my car, he stopped me, pulled me in, and kissed me… as silly as it sounds, I knew in that exact moment that I had found my soul mate and the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

The next morning we woke up, had coffee, and went to the beach. My mind was spinning with the whirlwind romance that had blossomed over the last week. As we sunned ourselves on Clearwater Beach, I tried desperately not to let my emotions run away with me. I kept telling myself to relax and not get ahead of myself until he looked at me and said, “You are going to think I am absolutely crazy, but I already know that I am going to marry you; you are my soul mate and the love of my life.” I instantly reciprocated and told him that I knew he was “The One” too!

On Sunday when I dropped him off at the airport, I obviously didn’t want him to go, but as fate would have it, I was traveling to New York three days later for my oldest cousin’s wedding. I was hoping to see him once or twice while I was in town for the wedding, but as soon as my family met him, they invited him to stay for all of the wedding festivities over the next four days! My family instantly fell in love with Jason. They were beyond thrilled that I had FINALLY met a nice, hookup boy! We had only known each other for 10 days, but Jason already felt like family.

On the flight back to Tampa, I thought extensively about how we were going to make our long-distance relationship work. We had two options: to commute back and forth for a year while I looked for a job in the New York/New Jersey area, or to move up in two weeks when the lease was up on my apartment on July 1st. After a few days of weighing my options I decided to take the bull by the horns and move to New York/New Jersey. Luckily for me, I actually grew up an hour north of Manhattan and the majority of my family still lives in that area. I called my family to tell them that after 14 long years away, I was finally coming home — I moved out of New York July 1st, 2000 and I was returning July 1st, 2014. Literally 14 years to the day #Bashert.

We had met twice, known each other a month, and I was moving 1,000 miles to begin a life with him. As reckless and insane as it probably sounded when I told my family and friends I was moving, I knew 100% that this was the right decision and that this was the biggest gamble I would ever take in my life.

Jason flew down to Tampa to move me out of my apartment and to help me make the long drive up to my grandparents house in New York. It was the longest, yet most enjoyable drive of my life.  Within two to three weeks of my arrival, I managed to land my dream job with a company that was only 20 minutes from Jason’s house in New Jersey. Jason’s family immediately took me in and let me live with them until we got our first apartment a few months later. Living with Jason and his family was an amazing experience, once I moved in there were seven of us living in his parents house! Jason’s two parents Jeff and Audrey, his middle brother Evan, his youngest brother Kyle and his fiancée Melanie, and Jason and myself successfully and, most importantly, happily lived under one roof for four months. I am an only child with divorced parents so having siblings and parents together all the time was refreshing.

We moved down the street from Jason’s parents in October and got engaged three months later on January 9th! Jason knocked the proposal out of the park. He took me out to Sparks in Manhattan for date night and proposed during desert. Everyone in the restaurant knew he was proposing, so when he pulled out the ring box the entire restaurant started clapping and taking pictures! We enjoyed champagne and desert while our newly engaged status set in. I was completely surprised and kept saying, “OH MY GOD THIS IS WHAT THIS FEELS LIKE!!!!!” After dinner, he surprised me with a suite at the Marriott Marquee in Times Square and whisked me up to their rotating lounge for cocktails where his entire family was waiting to congratulate us! Ten minutes into more champagne and desert with his family, out popped my mom and step-dad who had flown in from Florida, along with my family that lived in upstate New York. We stayed up until the very early hours of the morning celebrating. The entire proposal evening was a surprise and could not have been more perfect! The next day everyone got together for brunch in the city and my mom shot our first engagement photo shoot at Rockefeller Center.

We had our engagement party on June 6th to commemorate the anniversary of when he flew down to meet me for the first time, and are getting married on November 1st, 2015. He completes me in every which way possible and I cannot wait to see what life has in store for us.

Thank you 100hookup for making what could only seem like a fairytale my reality!

Amy and Jason
Morris Plains, New Jersey

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