How to Fall in Love with Your Uber Driver (From Someone Who Did) 🚘

Who Knew One Night Would Change Everything?

Who knew October 12th, 2018, would be the day that changed my whole life? That was the night I met my husband, Kaleb, and we’ve been together ever since. I was 20 years old, a junior at the University of Portland (UP), and very much in the midst of finding myself lol.

At the time, I was working as a brand-new bank teller at US Bank in downtown Portland while taking prerequisite courses at Mt. Hood Community College before returning to UP. My coworker (who definitely had a crush on me—unreciprocated, of course) invited me to Damian Lillard’s (RIP to him leaving the Blazers) best friend’s birthday party. Random, I know, but why not? I agreed to go (as friends), but there was one problem—I was underage and needed a solution, fast.

I called my cousin, who was well-connected in Portland’s party scene, and wouldn’t you know it? She was invited too! Perfect. I could crash at her place later that night.

Fast forward to the end of the party—my cousin told me to meet her outside because she’d called an Uber to head to her friend’s penthouse in the Pearl District. I stumbled outside (cue sarcastic voice totally sober and responsible) to find a white Jeep packed with seven other people. I remember thinking, This car definitely only seats four… and then I got shoved in.

Now, if you ask my husband, he’ll say he remembers this night way better than I do (he was six months sober at the time and still going strong!). But I do my best to piece together what I kinda remember, so here we go…

I was sitting on someone’s lap in the middle of the Jeep when, apparently, a random guy in the passenger seat started talking to me. Instead of engaging, I turned to the Uber driver and said, “Pretend like it’s just you and me in this car right now.” (Okay, past Jade, calm down.)

When we arrived at the penthouse, as we all tumbled out of the car, the driver looked at me and said, “You gonna grab my number or what?” (Fun fact: He had a personal rule never to ask for passengers’ numbers.) I added him as a contact and put a little blue car emoji next to his name (genius), then went inside.

At some point, I realized I’d completely abandoned my coworker at the party without telling him (whoops). I tried calling, but his phone had died before I could explain (double whoops). That’s when it hit me—I needed a ride home and had no way to get one.

Then, lightbulb.

I opened my phone and saw the contact with the little blue car emoji. 🚙

“Kaleb…Car…Uber…”

Problem solved!

I called him up and asked if he could take me to my cousin’s house. To this day, it’s a running joke that he picked me up “off the corner” because I had no idea where I was and just kept saying, “I’m on the corner.” (Can’t wait to tell our daughter that one!)

He found me, drove me to my cousin’s apartment, but instead of dropping me off, we sat in his car and talked until the sun came up. We covered everything—our childhoods, school, likes, dislikes, life goals. When I finally made it inside, my cousin asked, “Where have you been?” All I could say was, “I don’t know.”

But Wait, There’s More

The next day, my cousins invited me to Boo Bomb at the Moda Center (a 90s throwback concert). After the night I’d just had? Absolutely, yes.

While getting ready, they said we needed to call an Uber. Another lightbulb.

I knew an Uber driver.

I called Kaleb, and not only did he offer to drive us downtown and pick us up afterward, but he officially asked me out on a lunch date a couple of days later.

From there, things just took off. We “dated” but never made anything official (the classic juuust friends situation—uh-huh, sure). A couple of weeks in, Kaleb texted me saying he wasn’t looking for a relationship and wanted to focus on himself. I told him, Perfect! Because I wasn’t looking for a relationship either, and for two good reasons:

1. I had never been in a relationship before.
2. I was leaving for Spain in two months to study abroad for six months.

Not exactly ideal timing.

But we kept hanging out. We did all the Christmas things—holiday lights, inner tubing, and oh yeah… he met my family and spent Christmas with them. Just friends? Right. (Shoutout to my grandma for that one facepalm).

Then, the time came for me to fly to Spain. Before I left, we even bought Dream Journals to write to each other. And three months in, he surprised me with a flight to Spain to visit me! (Is this a Hallmark movie yet?)

When he arrived, he officially asked me to be his girlfriend. At that point, there was no denying it.

The Best Part?

While I was across the world, Kaleb:

• Sent me a massive care package for my 21st birthday 🎁. It included birthday cards from every member of my family, both on my mom’s and dad’s sides (cue the tears).
• Took my mom, brother, and grandma out for an expensive seafood Valentine’s Day dinner 💟 (who was this guy??). Over dinner, he told them he was dating me with the intention of marrying me one day (swoon).
• Went on a family vacation… with my family…without me. (A little weird, but okay?)
• FaceTimed me weekly despite a nine-hour time difference so we could watch a Relationship Goals series together (patience was definitely tested by bad Wi-Fi).

Those six months apart grew us in ways we never expected. And, in the end, my best advice?

Learn to be best friends first.

Don’t be afraid to take chances—God’s plans are always bigger than you can imagine.

And most importantly…

Always be kind to your Uber driver.

This is my first official post for my new blog! I hope it inspired you or at least made you laugh a little. If you liked it and want to read more content, subscribe for updates on my next post! (Don’t worry, no spamming from me – just an update!)

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