I ‘liked’ a viral tweet, now we have two kids
Laura Corkhill, 28, is studying health and life science, and lives in Dunfermline, Fife, with fiance Dylan Easton, 27, a footballer, and children Harlen, five, and Honey, 18 months.
I look at my two beautiful children, and my amazing fiance, and I can’t believe I have them because of a viral football video.
In July 2015 I was in a dark place. I didn’t like my job, and my relationship had recently ended. Scrolling Twitter, I spotted a video my friend had retweeted and clicked on it.
I saw 15 lads in a football changing room.
One guy began heading the ball to each in turn, then into the bin. Their joy as they jumped about made me smile.
Usually, I’d keep scrolling. Instead, I did something I’d never done before. I clicked through to the profile of the guy in the video, Dylan, and followed him.
I was amazed to see two notifications the next day. Dylan had sent me a message.
We immediately hit it off. We both lived with our families, me in Liverpool, him in Edinburgh.
We chatted about everything. Ten days later, I went on holiday and we video-called.
Dylan was confident and funny. Mum teased me that I was constantly on my phone, but she loved seeing a smile back on my face.
We planned to meet up the week after I returned. But two days after getting home I couldn’t wait.
At 8pm I told him I was getting in the car.
My stomach fluttered with nerves as I drove. He ran towards me and I jumped into his arms for that first hug.
I knew this was something special. Today we have two beautiful children and Dylan proposed last August.
And whenever the viral video pops up it stops me in my tracks. I believe with all my heart we were meant to be.
Dylan says: I posted the video on Twitter five minutes before football training. An hour later it had gone crazy.
Scrolling the hundreds of notifications, Laura’s jumped out at me. I’d never messaged someone I didn’t know before.
We just clicked. She was intelligent, down-to-earth and beautiful. I still pinch myself.
If she hadn’t seen that video, or if I hadn’t had the mad idea to make it, none of this would have happened.
We’re proof that everything happens for a reason.
A dating app glitch brought us together
Carolina Klingerman, 30, works in a chocolate factory and lives in Manchester with husband Dan Fenton, 35, a systems accountant.
Approaching arrivals at Heathrow Airport I was shaking with nerves. I’d travelled for 40 hours, to a country I’d never visited, to meet a man.
I didn’t know it, but I was about to see my future husband, all thanks to a dating app glitch.
In early February 2016, I was 25 and living in Panama.
I was single and looking for love when I heard about a dating app that connected Jewish people, so I thought, why not?
Open to meeting someone as far away as Miami, I set my search area to 750km.
On Valentine’s Day, the app suggested Dan. Liking his face, I swiped ‘yes’, but then I saw he was 9,000km away in the UK.
I laughed. What were the chances this guy on the other side of the world would swipe yes to me as well?
But two days later he messaged. I replied, and that’s when it all began.
We realised the app had crashed on Valentine’s Day. When it reset, my maximum distance had gone from 750km to 9,000km.
Meanwhile, Dan’s jumped from 10km to 10,000km.
The distance was impossible, but he was funny, kind and patient with my terrible English.
My feelings grew. Friends thought I was crazy, but something kept me talking.
And when he invited me to visit him in London that August, I said yes.
Heart thumping, I scanned the Heathrow crowds. The minute he kissed me on the cheek everything felt right. It was like I’d known Dan forever.
It was an amazing two weeks, and I sobbed the entire way home. What were we going to do?
But six weeks later Dan was in Panama, and during that trip, we knew we were meant to be together.
We got married in July 2018. Six years later, I’m still amazed that a computer glitch brought me the love of my life.
Dan says: I honestly thought Carolina was a bot. Why else would this gorgeous woman swipe yes to me on Valentine’s Day?
I was amazed when she replied to my message, then baffled when she said she was in Panama.
But I went with it, and when we Skyped two weeks later, I had two immediate thoughts. First, Carolina is real. Second, she is the one.
For the first time in my life, I felt completely myself.
My best friend told me to stop, but the day I told my dad, he pulled out an article he’d just printed about Jewish Panama cuisine.
It felt like a sign.
I still can’t believe how lucky I am. The universe wanted us to be together.
Five years apart, then engaged after 10 days
Sukina Douglas, 40, is a poet (@Sukina_Pilgrim) and lives in Bristol with husband Mohammed Yahya, 41, a hip-hop artist (@IamMoYah) and educator.
I was on a busy street in Bristol when my best friend rang. ‘Have you seen him?’ she asked.
‘Who?’ I replied. ‘Mohammed,’ she said. ‘He’s here.’
At that exact moment, he appeared before my eyes. My ex-boyfriend, who I hadn’t seen in years, was standing right in front of me.
We’d first met in 2001 and I felt sure he was the one. But the timing wasn’t right and I was devastated when it ended six months later.
In 2002 I heard that on a trip to The Gambia he’d converted to Islam.
Cutting off his hair and taking the name Mohammed, he suddenly seemed a different person.
I’d been holding out hope we’d reunite. Now that door seemed closed forever.
But six months later I picked up The Autobiography of Malcolm X and had a spiritual experience of my own.
I fell in love with Islam and converted, taking the name Sukina.
But while I occasionally heard what Mohammed was up to from other people, we had separate lives.
Then one day in 2005, during the Islamic festival of Eid, I was back in my hometown of Bristol and out shopping for clothes.
When I saw Mohammed I felt shock and disbelief.
But the connection as we spoke was immediate. He was only in Bristol for a few hours that day, yet we’d found one another – it felt like a sign.
He went back to London, but we both knew something magical was happening. When he proposed 10 days later, saying that he wanted to grow old with me, it was like a dream.
Unlike when we were young, now the timing was right. It was meant to be.
Mohammed says: I was only in Bristol that day for a few hours. I’m a hip-hop artist and was doing some promotion. So, for Sukina to appear in front of me was a huge shock.
We hadn’t seen each other in so long. But the second we began speaking it felt like no time had passed.
We were even wearing the same clothes, khaki green jackets and denim. It felt like another sign.
We kept talking and within days I knew this was it, so I proposed.
On that day in Bristol, our hearts were open, and the time was right. I just know that our reunion was part of a bigger plan.
