when rich & ryan met

Rich and Ryan met sometime in the middle-later part of the last decade. Or perhaps it was the later-middle part. Perhaps it was at a bar in the Castro, or maybe it was at a different bar in the Castro. Neither of them recalls for sure when they first met.

For you see, much like memes, Flossing or saying “I was today years old,” Rich and Ryan’s relationship was born on social media. As acquaintances with several mutual friends in San Francisco, they were connected on social media for years before they connected one on one in the real world. But one day around Thanksgiving in 2018, Rich commented on Ryan’s stories. They chatted extensively, one thing led to another and a week later they were on their first date. Or maybe it wasn’t a date. Maybe it was just gay drinks. Neither of them knew for sure.

That first date led to a second one the very next night. Since then, they’ve followed each other across the country four times, cooked a thousand meals together, bought a house, adopted a Gretchen and gotten themselves engaged.

The internet truly is forever.