I have the flu and everything hurts, and I am miserable and the world is a smoking pile of burnt garbage, and today

I would like to try to cheer myself up, by telling you two love stories.

Okay, so back in January of 2012 when my book The Fault in Our Stars came out,

we went on tour for about a month, and one of our first stops was this hotel ballroom, outside of Washington DC.

Before that show, a bunch of nerdfighters met up to hang out, two of whom were Sara and Luis.

Now, they'd never met each other before, but they really hit it off on this day,

and so they exchanged contact information, and then eventually they began dating.

They fell in love, acquired a dog named Scout and a cat named Boo, and then decided to get married.

And they accomplished all of this while I was failing to write a new book.

But then I did write a new book.

And we announced that we were going on tour, and returning to Washington DC,

on a day that just happened to be two days before Luis and Sara's wedding.

And even though it was, of course, a very busy time for them, they managed to make it to the Turtles All the Way Down tour,

where we presented them with a KitchenAid mixer and a bottle of champagne.

Because, you know, that's what you need in a new marriage:

love, a KitchenAid mixer, and something bubbly to celebrate with.

And then they got married! With lots of nerdfighter friends in attendance.

The wedding's dress code was, and I'm quoting directly here, 'comfortable but dressy rainbow colors.'

Which means it was almost certainly the greatest wedding ever.

And also, look at these nerdfighters!

Look at all of these wonderful people celebrating joy and love!

Behold hope and life and everything that is not influenza!

I just barfed between takes, so that's how my day's going. Let's go on to the second love story.

Okay, we're going back to 2012. So that October, I visited a library in Cincinnati.

And a couple days before the event, a guy named Kenny tweeted me to ask if he should skip his business law class to

come to my book reading, and I said no, because you know, school is more important, but he came anyway.

And he happened to sit next to someone named Amy.

They chatted before and after the show, exchanged contact information,

and then eventually fell in love! They got two dogs and three cats and bought a house together,

and then a couple days before our return to Cincinnati for the Turtles All the Way Down tour, Kenny wrote to me on Reddit.

He said, "I met my girlfriend five years ago at your book signing in Cincinnati.

I want to propose now, but don't know how. Any advice?"

Congratulations, Kenny and Amy! Here's a couple pieces of unsolicited wedding advice.

One: Nothing matters except whether you have an open bar, and

two: If at all possible, make your dress code comfortable, but dressy rainbow colors.

Now I know what the vast majority of you are thinking:

"Why hasn't this ever happened to me?" And fair enough.

But you have to remember, if you're lucky, this happens to you exactly once in your life.

Hank, we are surrounded by injustice, and we are also surrounded by microbes, and we must never

become complacent in the face of these horrors, which is my way of saying, remember to get your flu shot.

But we are also surrounded by love. Romantic love, friend love, family love;

as the poet wrote over 2000 years ago, "Love conquers all, and so we shall yield to it."

Thank you, to Amy and Kenny, and Sarah and Luis, and everyone else who has shared their love with us.

Hank, I am going to bed. I will see you on Friday.