Cinco de Mayo, the day everyone in Texas incorrectly celebrates as Mexican Independence Day, is also the day I met my husband.

It was not the romantic introduction that one envisions when they think about meeting the person with which they will spend the rest of their lives. I was living in Houston at the time and the humidity and my luck made sure that my hair was frizzy and fried and that I was sweating in places I had never sweat before. The eye infection in my left eye left me with a random twitch so I resorted to leaving just one contact in and watching people with my good eye.

It’s hard to believe it wasn’t love at first sight.

We were introduced by a mutual good friend at dinner. Tyler was planning on relocating for work in a month and there was a lot of Houston he hadn’t yet seen, so we created a “Houston Bucket List”. We spent the next few weeks trying new restaurants, taking a sushi cooking class, having picnics, dancing at music festivals, visiting the downtown tunnels, and attending soccer games. We reinvented the term ‘speed dating.’

We spent years talking on the phone and Skyping and we put thousands of miles on our cars before he got down on one knee, I closed up shop in Texas, and moved out to Louisiana.

So this Cinco de Mayo, if you’re out celebrating and you see a ridiculously good-looking man in a button up shirt talking to a really sweaty girl with an eye twitch, try to refrain your judgment. They may just be the real deal!