I fell in love in exactly 4 seconds. He rear-ended my car at a red light. When we both got out to exchange insurance, I took one look at him and said, “Forget the insurance, want to get coffee?” He said yes. I knew I’d marry him before we even ordered. We got engaged last month—on the same street where we crashed. The universe has a sense of humor.
Another insta-love story. We get them all the time. About how someone “just knew” when they met the love of their life.
Even SunshineGuy is skeptical about insta-love stories, and if he’s skeptical about something, you know it’s less believable than a politician’s campaign promises.
Right. Time for the checklist:
Exact timeframe mentioned? Check.4 seconds—humanly impossible to process attraction, evaluate compatibility, and override basic survival instincts after a car accident.
Romantic callback location? Check. Of course they got engaged at the crash site. Because nothing says eternal love like automotive trauma.
Universe as matchmaker? Check. The universe has thirteen point eight billion years of experience and apparently uses it to cause fender benders so people can meet the love of their life.
Verdict: Fabricated. Next.
But, of course, when I flag the post for removal, SunshineGuy drops into the chat to challenge me.
TruthGuardian
It’s insta-love. I thought we both agreed how stupid that concept is.
SunshineGuy
I completely disagree with the concept of insta-love, but it doesn’t mean people don’t believe it retrospectively. Our brains aren’t exactly the most reliable narrators. These guys met, they clicked, and now their memory has added a romantic Instagram filter. They THINK it’s true.
TruthGuardian
Asking for coffee instead of insurance information suggests head trauma, so maybe that explains it.
SunshineGuy
Okay, that made me snort my coffee, and now everyone around me is giving me funny looks.
A weird thrill of triumph shoots through me that I made SunshineGuy laugh.
TruthGuardian
Maybe concussion protocols should be changed to include “did you suddenly feel like marrying the other driver?”
SunshineGuy
Who knows, maybe airbags cause temporary romantic delusions? Should we alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration?
Now I’m grinning, which is fine because I’m alone in my apartment and there are no witnesses to this temporary lapse in cynicism.
Moderating this forum is my guilty pleasure that no one knows about. It doesn’t exactly fit with my usual brand of aggressive pragmatism.
I first heard about ShareYourGlow when one of my fellow engineers at work, Jayla, became addicted to it and constantly talked about it. And even though my worldview could potentially be described as cynical, I fully supported the idea behind the forum. I agree that with the current state of the world, we need reminders of all the good people in it. We need proof that our shared humanity hasn’t been completely swallowed by algorithms and outrage cycles.
So when Jayla sent me a link to a post about a bus driver who’d been learning sign language in secret to communicate with a Deaf kid on his route, and on the kid’s birthday, the entire bus had learned to sign “Happy Birthday,” I’d clicked on it.
And after I’d read that post, I started poking around on the forum and stumbled across the lightbeam, as they call it in Glow speak, QueerWaystoFallinLove.
And I couldn’t stop myself from reading all the stories, even the obviously fake ones, because apparently my brain needed to know if GayPanic97 ever got together with his CrossFit instructor. Dopamine is a hell of a neurotransmitter, and I clearly have less self-control than I’d like to believe.
Now, moderating the forum is my guilty pleasure. Sure, most days I think humanity is a failed experiment, but occasionally someone posts something real and true, and it almost makes me believe we’re not completely doomed.
The forum is like a digital sanctuary for people who still want to believe in good things. And by becoming a moderator, I appointed myself the bouncer to keep the liars out.
