I’ll never forget our first date. The restaurant glowed with soft light, my nerves tangled with hope.

Then she smiled at the waiter and asked, “What’s the priciest item on your menu?” My heart nearly stopped.

The waiter described a seafood platter that cost more than my month’s groceries, and I wondered if I’d made a huge mistake.

Trying to stay calm, I asked if that was really what she wanted. She laughed. “No—it’s my first-date test,”

she explained. If someone ordered it to impress, she’d know appearances mattered more than connection. If they got angry,

it showed poor handling of stress. But if they stayed steady, it meant they valued the moment.

What first seemed like a red flag became one of the most intriguing things I’d ever heard.

The evening shifted. We ordered pasta and talked for hours, sharing stories and dreams. By the time I walked her to her car,

the tension had vanished, replaced by connection. That one odd question revealed her rare character.

Today, she’s my wife. We still laugh about how rattled I was. Her “test” taught me the real truth:

love isn’t about grand gestures but honesty, patience, and walking through life together.