How I Knew I Found Someone Special

All I cared about is that she made me happy whenever I was around her, and she helps me help myself feel worthy of that love every day.


I’ve always been a bratty, picky introvert, lamenting about my loneliness while putting myself through self-imposed solitude. I can’t quite explain why. I love being alone yet I hate being lonely. It’s this inexplicable balance that I’ve lived with for the vast majority of my life.

I have a high capacity for love, yet a very low tolerance for stimulus. This means that while I appreciate every moment I get to spend with my friends and family, I was never able to see any one person more than twice a week before I started feeling overwhelmed. I would have to take regular breaks from seeing people.

That was, until I met my current girlfriend.

In 2012, I was going through a journey of self-discovery. That was the year I realized that I had never really been happy. I would smile and laugh occasionally, but the feeling of pure joy eluded me. I started figuring out how to love myself using cognitive behavioral therapy and meditation.

It was around this time that I met Cate. When I first got to know her, I didn’t know that she would be the person I’d want to spend my life with. We always got along made each other laugh, but I was still in the process of finding myself. I still held onto my rule of only seeing my friends twice a week. I kept a wall up, perhaps to protect myself from pain.

But one fateful day, after many months of cognitive therapy, I worked up the nerve to take a risk. For a long time, I had “jokingly” asked her on dates, which always gave her the opportunity to laugh off the situation. But not on this day.

I wanted to drop any pretense that I was joking and told her that I was serious, letting her know that I wanted to get to know her better. We finally set up our first date.

I wasn’t sure what I expected when we went out for the first time. All I wanted to do was have a good time, get to know someone new. I always enjoyed her company and our Facebook chats, and she was the smartest person I knew.

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How I Knew I Found Someone Special

About The Author
- Robin Tran is a standup comedian, writer, and spent most of her life living as Robert Tran. Robin graduated from UCI with an English degree after her friends and family told her to quit being a theater major because they felt that her dreams were unrealistic. In 2012, Robin began her standup comedy career (as Robert Tran) and has won several standup comedy competitions including the Westside Bar & Grill Contest in 2012 and Uncle Clyde's Comedy Contest at Flappers in Burbank. In February 2015, Robin came out as transgender and has spent several months writing about her firsthand experiences. She has also appeared on the “Racewars” podcast with Kurt Metzger and Sherrod Small to debate about the philosophies of comedy and got to say hi to Ann Coulter in the process.