From Tinder to Marriage to Buying a House Overseas: A ‘Lucky’ Love Story

We met on Tinder. It was 2015, and I was vacationing in New York swiping right on every girl and getting very few matches. One of those matches had a picture of a cute and innocent-looking green-eyed girl. We were fascinated with one another. Unfortunately, we could not meet because she was away at a music camp in Canada, and I had to go back to Chile before she returned.

We kept talking though. In 2016, I took another trip to New York, and we agreed to meet each other in person for the first time in Washington Square Park. For the first time, she found out about my chronic disease: lateness. I got there an hour late because I got lost in the subway, but lucky me, she didn't leave even though it was freezing. Immediately, it was like we had been best friends for a long time.

That's how our love grew

That short trip came to an end though. We cried, and I promised I'd come back to see her once I came back to New York for college. I had no idea whether I would. After getting rejected from about every school I applied to, except from one that was too far and too expensive, I thought I'd have to take back my promise. But CUNY came through when Hunter College accepted me. It was the last school I heard from, the most affordable, and it was in the city. Lucky me.

She is a teacher at heart who loves children, and I am an ape who loves jumping and fighting

We visited each other in our dorms, met each other's families, went on trips, and most importantly, supported one another. Fast forward to 2019, we were 21 and azing deal for an apartment in Jackson Heights, which turned into our cherished little nest. In , I asked her to marry me, she said yes, and we planned it out.

Seconds later, the pandemic hit. It wasn't too bad because we got to spend all of our time together. Our not-so-big wedding plans crumbled, but we decided to go ahead and elope under the Brooklyn Bridge in azing wedding photos in post-pandemic empty Manhattan.

Soon after that, we got a puppy on impulse. After a few months, we sort of regretted that decision, but now we could not picture our lives without our dog. In the spring of 2021, I was aching to be with my family living in Chile, so we decided to move there temporarily.

Turns out Chile is quite cheaper than New York, so our money goes a long way. Super lucky us. We might put a bid in for a three-bedroom apartment in one of the country's top neighborhoods, which would be unimaginable in New York. Though we have serious plans to come back to live in the States, we like to go with the flow and make decisions as we go. So far, we feel lik e we have made the best ones.

We are an unlikely couple: she comes from the suburbs in Long Island and I come from a ghetto in South America. She is a classically trained musician and I listen to the most vulgar version of reggaeton. Our common ground, and the reason we love each other, is our sense of humor, our unconditional support for each other's projects, and the fact that, as we say, we are very down to Earth, which might be the least down to Earth thing you can say. Anyway, lucky us for having found each other.