Sometimes Hinge scares me. Yesterday, I got a message out of nowhere saying, “Thoughts on penguins?”

Penguins are very much a me thing. I know that’s weird, but we all have our list of basic favorite facts: color, number, animal, drink—you name it, and I have a favorite that is deeply intertwined with my personality. If you know me, you know penguins. It’s just how it is.

I don’t remember exactly how old I was when my dad first set up email accounts for my sister and me, but we were very young. She’s two years older, so maybe she understood the assignment a bit more; her email was funkychunkymonkey. Even at a young age, I was incredibly indecisive and couldn’t figure out what mine should be. It felt so heavy and permanent.

Since then, of course, I’ve created tens of emails. I’ve gotten locked out of accounts. I’ve decided I needed a dedicated burner email for all of my shopping accounts so my spam goes to one place. I’ve needed to look more professional, or I’ve needed a Google account strictly for one specific project. I now have endless email addresses for absolutely no reason.

Anyway, back then, with the help of my dad, I finally landed on ilovepenguins, and I’ve run with it ever since. It’s typical, and I know using the same theme is bad for modern security reasons, but it’s nostalgic. For some reason, it just makes me feel safe.

But it brings me back to yesterday: How on earth could this man possibly know about the penguins?