Boboetie

Nothing about our love story thus far has been conventional. 
I'll start at the beginning. We matched on Bumble at the end of January and as the girl, I sent him a message asking something menial about countries he wanted to travel to. Fast forward 3 months and he replied apologising for the silence and that he'd not been ready to date again in January. Normally, this would've been the first red flag, but he seemed sincere so we continued chatting. 

Another 3 weeks passed and we were still talking on Bumble. The COVID pandemic had been declared at this point and I'd gone home to shield with my family. We were 130 miles away from each other and yet, every he managed to put a smile on my face and make me laugh without having laid eyes on me or met in person!

Our first 'official' date was virtually on 9th April and we chose Skype. I am technologically challenged and so there were a lot of glitches at the beginning... (oops)! The first date butterflies were there (but before opening my laptop screen, which was just bizarre!) We talked for about 2 hours on that first date and I felt like I knew him so well, in such a short amount of time. 

We continued dating virtually for 3 months. It was wonderful but we had to make time for one another (we are both masters students and have hectic home lives). On 4th June I returned to Birmingham, to work and we agreed that we'd have our first (socially distanced) picnic in the park. 

He met me in the city centre. I walked him around and showed him the highlights (of which he'd seen most, I later found out!) He didn't care though! We chatted as much as we had over Skype and then some! He had the most beautiful eyes and smile and it made me realise how shocking the picture quality was on Skype. 

Our first few dates were in the park or at mine. What surprised me most was the little things he wanted to do for me, like hold the door open, or do the washing up. When we'd been virtually dating, he'd promised to share a glass of South African wine that he'd brought back with him in February. On our second date, he produced it and I'd cooked us a Boboetie (he'd been all the way to the country and never tried the national dish!!)

He went to see his family for the first time in 6 months and I've been working, so we're currently halfway through out 4 weeks apart. 

Despite all the physical distance we have had during our short time together (thanks COVID), we couldn't be more in-tune with each other emotionally! Oddly, the pandemic was a blessing in disguise because it allowed us to become friends and then romance blossomed from that.