We Spent Years Almost Meeting Each Other.

You know how people say it’s a small world?

Well, ours was apparently very small.

We both grew up in the south of Manila. Our grade schools and high schools were right next to each other, and even our college and university campuses were practically neighbours.

We went to the same malls, had mutual friends, and moved in pretty much the same circles.

And yet, somehow, we had never met. Not once.

Before our paths crossed, Tara had been single for nine years, and Jan for seven. We were both enjoying life on our own, with no particular hurry to settle down.

Our friends, however, had other ideas.

During the pandemic, one of Tara’s friends joked, “The world might be ending and you still haven’t gone on a date!” Meanwhile, Jan’s friend had also been encouraging him to give dating a try.

Both friends suggested Bumble, so we decided to give it a shot.

After spending years living so close to each other in the Philippines, we finally met thousands of kilometres away, in Singapore!

Apparently, growing up practically next door to each other wasn’t enough. It took moving to another country and a dating app for our paths to finally cross!

Getting to know each other felt easy and natural. We enjoyed spending time together, and took things at our own pace. After nine months of dating, we officially became a couple.

What started with one match slowly became something special. We found happiness in the simplest moments, and somewhere along the way, being together started to feel like home.

And just when we thought we’d discovered all the little connections from our past, we found another one.

While gathering our church requirements for the wedding, we discovered that we’d actually been baptised at the exact same church!

Looking back, maybe we simply weren’t meant to meet any earlier. Maybe we both needed those years to grow and become the people we are today.

And when our paths finally crossed, the timing just felt right.

All those years, we were so close to finding each other.

Turns out, we were just one swipe away.