Reflection: First Date Anniversary

On October 13th, Tien and I celebrated the anniversary of our first date. We marked the occasion by venturing out to Beverley Hills and indulging in our bougie tastes with a prime rib dinner at Lawry’s. I tried my hardest to avoid a heart attack upon seeing the check…(I’m working again after all). After commemorating our first date anniversary, I decided to reflect on how different our relationship is compared to when we first met.

The First Impression vs Now

I feel like first impressions are difficult in online dating. Assuming things about a person based off a vague profile and chat bubbles isn’t really the best way to get a good read on someone. Even if you meet up in person, there is only so much you can tell about a person on a first date. I tend to tell my friends who engage in online dating to be patient and not to base everything off of just 1 date. As you might have guessed, a big reason why I say this is because my first date with Tien did not cover everything about her, not even remotely close.

After our first date, I already painted a picture of what I thought Tien would be like in my mind. I pictured someone who was very strict and serious, a real foodie with a heart for God. In fact, I first thought Tien was maybe a bit too serious of a person for me to be with. Likewise, Tien’s first impression of me was apparently giving me a score of 5/10. I looked and dressed like an absolute nerd. She even expected me to talk like one with me working in tech and all. Our first chat online centered around hiking and shows. I thought the chat went really well as I was able to strike conversation with the most random of things, but Tien felt worried that I would be someone who only stuck to the same 3-5 topics in conversations.

As we continued to date, we slowly got more sarcastic with each other. However, I still saw Tien as someone who preferred more mature and dry humor. Funny enough, I think Tien had the same assumption of me. My style of humor is wacky, weird, and most definitely not always PG. I was worried that she wouldn’t be too accepting of my sense of humor. But as we got to know each other, we realized that our humor might actually be exactly the same. Now, every time we see each other, not a minute goes by without one of us making a dumb goofy face or cracking gross fart joke to each other.

I am thankful I didn’t base everything off of a first impression. I would never have discovered how fun of a person Tien could be and I’m thankful that she gave me a chance instead of dropping me based on the assumption that I’m a dork with a bad haircut who only stuck to the same 3-5 topics in conversations.