Chealsy Reaves: My unexpected Tinder love story

The summer of 2019 was unlike any summer, because I experienced love that I never thought was attainable.

One hot summer day I was scrolling through Tinder- just looking for friends- and I just so happened to meet someone who was interested in more.

With Olivia, the conversations were transparent, vulnerable and sincere. The topics that we discussed in the first few weeks were mental health, family, frustrations of everyday life and the importance of self-love.

We instantly had both romantic connection and friendship, which were the two key elements to our solid foundation. After a month of texting, calling and chatting on FaceTime we decided to meet in person and spend two weeks together.

At first, I thought that there was no way we would spend the full two weeks together, because that’s a long time to spend with someone you have never met before.

I also considered the possibility that she would not show up, because I didn’t believe someone would take me seriously. The only love I have ever experienced in relationships was tough love.

Olivia’s compassion and transparency was intimidating. It left me with mixed emotions about our first meeting, but excited because of our initial connection. Then, on the day we met in Atlanta, we instantly clicked.

During our first week in the city we tried numerous restaurants for the first time, went on a Ferris wheel ride, went shopping, enjoyed a movie together and bowled a couple of games. In the second week, we traveled to Augusta and met my parents.

After two weeks together we were devastated that we had to go our separate ways. We vowed to be committed to each other and make long distance work.

This summer I learned that when you take chances and keep your mind open, you never know what treasure you may find.