Connect How did your love story begin?

Our paths crossed dozens of times starting in our late teen years. We were in the same places, with the same people, at the same time. “Star crossed lovers” so to speak, but we never “connected”. We even had a mutual friend try to pair us up, but because neither of us trusted that persons judgment, it wasn’t meant to be. After strange, meandering, life journeys, we matched on Tinder in our mid-forties of all places. We connected deeply, instantly, and have been inseparable ever since.

What is your favorite memory you've shared as a couple?

In the French Quarter, we found ourselves sitting at an outdoor cafe table at Antionette’s on Chartres st. Just down the street, someone had a piano pulled outside and the sound of jazz filled the air. We were drinking rose lattes and passing a pencil back and forth, creating and refining a drawing that we hoped could be a shared tattoo. The overall atmosphere crystallized in our minds as a remarkable, creative, and uniquely beautiful moment. It’s etched into our minds and inked on our arms.

What would you do with $20,000?

$20,000 would help us start a nonprofit organization to grow our passion project of offering free tattoo coverups to survivors of human trafficking & intimate partner violence. We recently won an award for this work… but there’s so much more to do, and so many more survivors in need. We dream of doing it full time, and this would be a step towards that.