Theresa Rowley and Sean Rooney both wondered whether the idea was too crazy.
“We were aware that it was a wild situation for us both to be in,” Rowley said. “I was excited, but I was apprehensive.”
Despite the nerves, Rowley, 33, an actress and comedian, decided to take the leap and book a plane ticket from Dallas to Ireland to meet Rooney for the first time. She hoped the sparks they felt through their screens would translate into real life.
As she walked off the plane following a nine-hour red-eye flight in July, “I was terrified,” she said.
After all, she was traveling to a country she had never been to, to spend a week with a man she had never met.
Rooney was nervous, too, as he waited for Rowley to exit the baggage claim.
“There’s always that thought in your mind of, like, ‘How is this going to go?’” said Rooney, 35, a musician. He lives in the heart of the Midlands region of Ireland.
Rooney had reached out to Rowley on Instagram a few months earlier to tell her he found her both funny and beautiful.
“I don’t know what possessed me, but one day I watched one of her videos, and I was laughing and thought she looked very attractive,” Rooney said. “I thought she was so entertaining and smart and witty, and I just thought I’d like to see what this person is like.”
In his message, “I tried to be as un-creepy as possible,” he added.
He didn’t think Rowley would even see the message. She has more than 307,000 followers on Instagram.
“I was just sending it into the ether,” Rooney said of the message he sent in March.
But to Rooney’s shock, Rowley opened the message — and replied. Something about it, about him, stood out.
“It was a little bit different than the normal message I was receiving,” Rowley said. “I clicked on him, and he is very attractive, and he’s a musician. I was like, ‘Okay, this is a real person with an interesting vibe.’”
“It was really fun to get that interaction going,” Rooney said.
And so began weeks of flirty banter over Instagram. Then they exchanged phone numbers and switched to texting. Soon enough, they were having daily FaceTime calls for four hours or more.
“I felt more understood by him than I ever had before, and it was very intriguing to me,” Rowley said.
So when Rooney invited her to visit him in Ireland, she took some time to think about it. Then decided to go.
“Ireland is the land of enchantment,” Rowley said, noting that she has Irish roots. “I thought it would be cool to just go and explore it.”
Her friend Luis Escalante offered to join her on the trip, as he was also interested in seeing the country. She said she was glad to have Escalante there in case she didn’t click with Rooney — or worse. He was her backup safety plan.
“He was like a built-in safety buddy,” Rowley said of Escalante. “He’s just always down for an adventure.”
Her family, though, was not convinced that flying to Ireland for a first date was a good idea.
“My parents were like, ‘Theresa, this is insane,’” Rowley said.
Rooney had an idea to FaceTime with Rowley’s mother before the trip to quell her nerves about the situation. It worked.
When they first embraced at the airport, both she and Rooney were a little jittery. It took some time to warm up, but before long, they said, spending time together felt natural. Rowley’s friend mostly toured on his own during the trip.
“Sean really helped me get comfortable,” Rowley said, adding that she booked her own accommodations. “He was very welcoming and kind.”
By the end of the week, Rowley and Rooney were officially a couple.
“I was already falling in love, and that trip solidified the feelings for me,” she said.
Rowley decided to post a video about their intercontinental love story on Instagram.
She didn’t anticipate it would get much of a reaction, but within 12 hours of posting, her video had a million views. People were captivated.
“You realize by posting this you’ve invited us all to the wedding, right??” one person commented.
“When’s the wedding? I’m getting y’all an air fryer,” another person wrote.
“People really jumped ahead,” Rooney quipped.
Many commenters wrote that the story was movie material.
“This felt like a romantic comedy,” someone commented.
“Hallmark has entered the chat,” another chimed in.
Both Rowley and Rooney were stunned by the response — but upon reflection, they understood why people were so charmed by their romance.
“The world is a pretty frightening place at the minute; there’s a lot of negativity, especially online,” Rooney said. “This is a break from that, and something that is very human and wholesome and sort of sweet, like, ‘Hey look — nice stuff happens.’”
Rowley booked another trip to Ireland in August, a month after her first one. Ireland’s marketing organization, Tourism Ireland, saw her viral Instagram video and offered to fund a portion of her next trip.
“It was amazing; it was jam-packed with activities and travel,” Rowley said.
A few months later, Rooney visited Rowley in Dallas for Thanksgiving, and to be her date for her cousin’s wedding. Rooney had been to the United States twice before.
“He wore a green suit to the wedding, which was very Irish of him,” Rowley said. “My immediate family was so happy to see me in a happy relationship. … They were all enthralled by him.”
Rowley plans to head back to Ireland after Christmas for another trip. Although they are still in the early stages of their relationship, she said she is considering moving there one day if things continue to progress.
“I’ve toyed with the idea,” she said. “It’s been fast and furious but also feels like it’s been a long time.”
The couple hopes their story reminds others that love can appear when you least expect it — and that’s it’s worth giving it a chance when it does. But if you fly across the world to meet someone, just be sure to bring a safety buddy with you.
“If you remain openhearted, the universe often will reward you for that,” Rowley said. “Don’t allow yourself to give up hope.”
The post A viral love story: She answered his DM, then flew to Ireland to meet him appeared first on Washington Post.
