On this Valentine’s Day, I thought it was only fitting to share my love story that has everything to do with Southwest.
My now fiancé, Vivek,and I met almost three years ago as friends on a spring break trip in Port St. Joe's, FL in April 2015. My best friend's husband took over our girls trip and invited all of his buddies to join, all of whom I knew but wasn't necessarily close with. We had a perfect week in the sun as friends—there wasn't any essence of interest or tension aside from one instance where Vivek made me an oyster during our last night.
At any rate, Vivek and I were both flying out of the ECP airport to our respective cities and were dropped off by friends on their way out of town. Being a smaller airport with not many flights, his first leg was delayed and he was put on the same connecting flight as me through Dallas hours later. We had five to six hours to kill in the airport, got lunch, and had great conversation but really connected doing the "Beachy Blonde" crossword on the plane. I was able to shine doing the crossword and we had a great time working with each other and feeding off of one another's vibes while huddled over the magazine.
Towards the end of the flight, I was trying to figure out a way for him to give me his number, knowing that I was desperate to continue talking. As we landed in Dallas I became consumed with how I would walk off the flight, feeling anxious about not taking the chance to set something up as he would be staying on the flight to make another connection. Funnily enough, a woman came up to him as I was getting off and started a conversation─ leaving me looking back to him and feeling like "this is it and it's ruined!"
I got his number and texted him immediately after exiting the airport, citing how hot it was. We continued texting daily until July when he came to visit me and see if something was happening between us. He relocated the following February to Milwaukee where I live, we got engaged last June, and will be married this July!
I wanted to say thank you so much for bringing us together and being part of our stars aligning—if it wasn't for that time spent in the airport, on the plane, and doing the crossword puzzle, my life would be completely different.
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