People believe in lots of things for lots of reasons. I believe in the Universe, energies, guardian angels, signs…. You don’t choose the signs; they choose you. When you open your eyes and believe in them, amazing things happen.

Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio is where my dear friends decided to have their joint bachelor/bachelorette weekend getaway. The originally planned weekend became a scheduling conflict, so it was rescheduled for September 17-19, 2021. The theme was “Let’s Get Nauti” and that Saturday, September 18th, our group’s custom shirts and matching sailor hats were very popular amongst the town’s patrons. We went wine tasting, had dinner, took lots of photos, and were all having the weekend of our lives.

During an afternoon break in the fun, I was sitting on the deck of our rental with my sister and a relative of the bride I had just met. Something caught the corner of my eye and I jumped out of both my chair and skin when I realized it was a giant bug. My friend saw it was a praying mantis and excitedly told me that it was good luck. She basically coaxed me through childbirth to get close enough to this creature to take pictures and videos, but she ensured me that it was something I needed to do and trust me, good luck was not something I was going to turn my back on.

Later that night, the group and our sailor hats ended up back at the outdoor bar we had torn it up at the night before, Yankies. We had a dancing girl circle going when someone realized there was a couple cops standing nearby and one of them was uber cute. They were close, they were looking, and we all started shaking it a little extra extra. At some point, I noticed a third cop had appeared and when my eyes focused on him, my jaw dropped. The Mantis Whisperer was dancing in front of me and I let her know that she HAD to turn around and see Officer Hottie that just walked in. She did a fun little twirl and her face told me she agreed. It took about ten seconds before the rest of the ladies in our group were excitedly asking each other if we all had seen “him”. Believe me when I say I saw him.

The last thing I wanted or needed in my life was a boy; no way, no how. But I was feeling myself that night and plus, this guy was too hot to ignore and I couldn’t explain it, but I felt a “pull”. I put an immense amount of effort into appearing effortlessly cute and needed water, so I went to the bar, praying that he was still there when I got back. I ended up getting swept up and made it back out in time to be shown the pictures the whole group took with this hunk and the other cops. I was furious they took a picture without me and there was zero chance I was going to ask for one on my own, so I mentally pouted while I continued to dance for this fine man I’d never meet.

Everyone was ready to go and there was talk of heading to another bar, The Cove, so I said that as loudly as I could without being too psycho; sure he couldn’t hear me over the distance and music, but hoping he had bionic ears. I gathered my things and pulled up the rear of the group. As I reached the exit, I looked back one last time at this guy that I would later text my gf was the “hottest guy I had ever seen” and there it was….the smile that changed my life. We locked eyes and he smiled and while I’m sure it was a Yankie strobe light, when I remember it now (which I do often) I see that beautiful face and smile with a halo of light surrounding him.

We weren’t more than a few yards out of the bar and I was shook to my core from that smile and in a haze of knowing that he noticed me, too. I jokingly said I should give that hot cop my number, which sparked a frenzy amongst the ladies, since he was going to be the topic of conversation for a while anyways. I VERY quickly shot them all down because, not only had I never done something like that before, I needed a guy in my life like a hole in the head, we were leaving in the morning, and this specimen of man probably had an extra phone to hold all the numbers he raked in a night.

It was decided, above my objections, that he was getting my number, one way or another. One girl pulled a pen and piece of paper from her purse while another read my phone number out loud and a third said she would waltz right in and hand it to him if I wouldn’t. This was happening whether I participated or not. He was, after all, the hottest guy I had ever seen and I couldn’t process it then, but that smile was more than just a smile, it was a spark, so why not. I rewrote my info so he didn’t think *that* was *my* handwriting, took a deep breath, started walking back towards Yankies, freaked out, and turned back around. I couldn’t tell you who it was, but two of my friends grabbed my wrists while another got behind my back, and my tribe quite literally dragged me back to the entrance of the bar. I started to walk in and again turned around before the idea to blame this ridiculous idea on my friends popped into my head. I gathered some cojones I’ve never had and walked up to this gorgeous guy that was even hotter up close. I blurted out some dumb line about my friends daring me to give him my number like we were in high school. I told him my name was Jess and he responded with “hi”. Cool. That was about as embarrassing as I thought it would be. Thank God we were leaving in the morning.

The walk back to the rental consisted of a stop for a funnel cake and a whole lot of “I can’t believe I did that!”, “what was I thinking?!” and, “I feel SO dumb”. I was in a kitchen bar stool at 11:34pm when my phone dinged:

“Congrats on winning your bet!”

“OH. MY. GOD. The hot cop just texted me……”

The loft erupted into the girl shrieks you’d expect at a high school sleepover, so I guess the bet wasn’t a total lie.

The time/space continuum broke that night. It’s simultaneously been the longest and shortest couple months of my life. It has also been the best, most rewarding, and most loving.