I met Mrs. Hank before photos had become common in online personals. She said in her ad that she was an English grad student at State, and I knew exactly that life, so I dazzled her with my charm and wit (out of 200+ responses; the internet has always been a sausagefest.) We agreed to meet at a coffeeshop, and we basically talked nothing about our looks, so of course I was convinced that I was gonna be disappointed. We had talked about a specific book, so I brought a copy of that book so she'd know me -- and this stunning creature walks through the door and I'm like "that can't be her but please please please be her" and she walked up to me and said "are you Hank?" and outside I was all "yes I am!" and inside I was like HOLY SHIT I HIT THE f***ING JACKPOT.
January 16th, 1998, around 7pm. One of the best moments of my life. We've been together almost every day since. Man, I got so lucky. Dating is a f***ing nightmare, and I'm sad for all of you that still have to do it.