When I’m out and about with my friend Kate, I tell the story of how we met to everyone that will listen. In May of 2022, we both found ourselves at Social IRL, a post-Covid meet-up at Lucy’s Bar meant to introduce folks who knew each other from Instagram, but had never connected in real life (IRL). After chatting for a few minutes, I manned up (womanned up?) and asked a question that you don’t often hear beyond the confines of playgrounds and kindergarten classes: “Do you want to be friends?”