My therapist believed that if you wanted to manifest something in your life, you needed to focus your energy on that thing. I decided to apply this to my search for love, so I made a list only a 22-year-old could make. I wanted the man of my dreams to be:

1. Taller than me (I’m 6-foot-2, so it’s a big ask)

2. Dark-haired

3. Fit, kind and funny (but not too funny because that was my job)

4. Social but not too social (I didn’t want to compete for attention)

5. Creative

Later that day I was on my way to the laundromat when I saw Todd. We had acted together in a Westchester Broadway Dinner Theater production of “Grease.” He was Danny Zuko. I was Doody.

He looked even more beautiful than I remembered. Except for being 12 years older and straight, he was exactly what I wanted. He was even two inches taller than I was.

“I just moved into the building next door,” he said.

I tried not to swallow my tongue.

Todd said he’d heard about my father dying and felt terrible about not calling. I knew he had gotten divorced, yet I hadn’t called either.