Tinder
"We are just humans, tiny specks of light and magic, yet we carry around hearts and potential to love like gods."
- Tinder Profile, August 2015
"Pint sized, cheeky, attentive, creative, affectionate female seeks geeky, handsome, funny, adorable, kind hearted gentleman."
- Tinder Profile, August 2015
Tinder
Patrick: "Coming back to dating when i never really did it was daunting. I went to a dating meetup, and started to build a persona that would engage the other gender but found it disheartening. Ruth's profile was refreshing, she posed with donkeys rather than drinking mates. Chatting to her was a breath of fresh air and i instantly relaxed into being fully myself and it was just fun, lighthearted and meaningful in the middle of it all. She brought out a side of me which i didnt know myself to be. We arranged to meet after 5 days messaging, emailing, sharing playlists, and getting a sense of her from her online presence - including being intrigued by those fairy photos!)"
First Date
Ruth: "Patrick sent me an image of an old postcard of Bray bandstand - we met by the beach where we sat for an hour on the beach talking before we went to dinner. We held hands as we walked to the restaurant and it felt as though we had known each other forever. I'd never met a man quite like Patrick, he was a true gentleman, it was as though he was from a different era. We talked non stop, laughed alot, and I literally loved everything about him. We continued our date in the Harbour bar, where we realised we both shared a love of live music, I learned of his past life as a drummer as I imagined being one of his groupies 🙂
Patrick: "My memory for most things is hazy, but feelings and images from the first date will be forever imprinted on my memory. Her slapping my thigh and laughing, tracing her hand across my palm while she read my palm lines, falling into her on a wall outside the bar. I think we went from being virtually close to physically close that night..."
First Kiss
Patrick: "Ruth breaks rules in regards who takes the lead, and I love her boldness in this...Our first kiss was when she kissed me impulsively as she left the taxi after our first date."
Ruth: "My memory of our first kiss was a little different than Patrick's. We met for breakfast in Bray the morning after our first date. We stood by my car and Patrick turned to me and took my face in his hands and before he kissed me he said, “I really wanted to do this last night.” It was worth the wait 😉
First "I love you's"
Patrick: "We both said “I love you” after just three weeks together. I said it first, confiding in her that “I’ve been holding back saying that to you since we met."
Ruth: "I felt the same. I literally had to bite my lip from blurting it out every time we met."
Jesse
Ruth: "On our first date Patrick asked me if I planned to have a child in the future. I was 39 at this stage and was pretty sure I wouldn't ever...I told him that I hadn't met someone up until this point who I wanted to have a child with but perhaps one day.... I loved that he was a dad already and Annabelle and Sebastian soon became my two favourite little people. Our beautiful precious baby boy Jesse was born on 24th December 2018 and completed our family of five."
Patrick: "I kept back the kids from meeting Ruth as long as I could (about 2 months - 4 months earlier than recommended) but once she did, seeing Ruth with my kids and witnessing Annabelle run into her arms and Sebastian hold hands while walking truly was the essence of what I'd want a life partner to be to my kids.I so wished for Ruth to have the experience of having a child of her own and to be able to see herself as an incredible mother - something she couldn't fathom at the time. I didn't anticipate how much i'd be smitten with the little Jessbomb. It's a pure joy to be in his presence, his smile, his laugh, his hanging onto me, his wild hair, his cheekiness. I've so been enthralled with all these moments, and so lucky to have him to cement us all together."
Proposal
Patrick: "In anticipation of finding an incredible proposal backdrop with our upcoming trip to France, i had managed to find a ring worthy of engagement in our local antique shop. In what i expected to be the pinnacle traditional moment of our ascent to the Eiffel Tower, my darling fiance-to-be but didnt know it was rapidly losing patience to ascend at all in the beaming heat, and when finally did ascend, had no notions of lingering for her vertigo was overcoming her. So the ring was burning a hole in my pocket for months after. I'd dutifully bring it to any remotely romantic spot, but wasnt the most discreet, so it had unveiled itself to Ruth on more than one occasion in the run up to it's actual unveiling. My head would be so intent on creating the right build up, the right moment that i lost the very moment time after time. I considered and quickly dispensed the idea of proposing on the birth of our child...In the end, there was an amazing night, coming home with Jesse, having him their beside as we dined on our first date as three, that I was overcome with a burning desire to propose right then and there, and so I did. On the couch....
Ruth: "We came home from our first date night after Jesse was born. He was just two weeks old. Patrick was lowering lights and lighting candles in the living room. I didn’t suspect a thing. I was lying on the coach and he knelt before me and said, 'I can’t imagine living one day without you both in my life, will you marry me?'I answered, 'In a heartbeat'."