TLDR: Craigslist is the OG Tinder. ______ I was in my final year @scaddotedu on holiday break back home in DC in November 2007. On a whim, I posted an ad in the platonic section on Craigslist for a tour guide of Chicago. I had never been there before, but was considering moving there after college to start my career in photography (2008 was a great year for this lol). I wanted to find someone who was local who could be my friend and pen pal until I arrived on my spring break in March (a whole five months after I posted the ad). I wasn’t really looking for a relationship, even though the one I was in was pretty rocky as we had gone through a hard time with his lymphoma diagnosis and treatments. I just wanted a friend and someone who would be kind to me and help me have a solid understanding of what I was possibly getting myself into by moving to a place like Chicago. The ad was flagged for spam about four times, and I had gotten really creepy responses. I was just about to give up on the idea until this really funny guy responded and refused to send me a photo; “I’ll describe myself: I wear pink mini skirts, I have a peg leg, and I wear an eye patch” Umm Omg who is this guy? Okay well no photo, at least tell me your name...”My name is Elvis” 👀🤣👏🏽 What?! “That’s not real,” I said. We emailed back and forth that night for about four hours until the friend he had been waiting on to get off work finally came by for them to go to dinner. We kept writing for weeks. He told me he grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and he had lived in the city his entire life. We would catch up at the end of our day when I finished class or when he was done for the day at Macys. Eventually those emails and AIM messages (remember AIM?!? 🤯) turned into 3, 4, and 5 hour long phone calls until the early morning hours. We would just laugh all night long sometimes falling asleep. All the while I have never met this person IRL but somehow I knew him. It was easy. It was comfortable. (Con’t below) ______ #love #couplegoals #onlinedating #nicholasalbrecht