I used to marvel at married couples who anchored the nightly news.

I used to wonder about weather people working with their significant others, news anchors and reporters who also happened to be dating.

Now that I’m in the business, the mystery has been solved, and I understand exactly why so many of us choose to date within the newsroom.

I’ve come to realize that people who are not in the business just do not understand it.

No amount of research will do them any good, because they simply will not get it. I repeat: Will. Not. Get. It.

It’s such a weird job where we have to work with each other closely, at odd hours, doing things the rest of the world never even thinks about (Seriously. Ever call a hospital’s patient information line? Or made a FOIA request?) we start bonding with each other, and it isolates us from the rest of the world.

Nobody seems like they’re on the same page as you, much less the same schedule.

One of the most mundane moments of my career is one I’ll never forget because of this.

On a normal day, I usually get to pick my liveshot location. Not sure if that’s normal, but when in Rome, I guess. So one night, I picked a spot right outside of my boo’s house that I thought would be perfect.

Overly eager to kill my liveshot, and have bae come watch what I do at my weird job, I invited my boo outside. I got a few texts back, but they never showed up.

I was disappointed. “It was just a few feet from your door,” I found myself saying over the phone later, “Why not just pop outside? Say hi?”

It took a lot of prying to finally learn the poor guy just didn’t understand.

Maybe I hadn’t explained it well enough, but I feel like most people must actually think we’re landing a spaceship nearby when we say we’re going live.

I once had a couple come out of their house and watch the whole thing. The entire time I was talking, they stared and listened. I couldn’t be mad at them, either. It’s what they do at home, and it’s completely normal to them.

I also find myself being surrounded by human seagulls at parties when they find out I’m a reporter. It’s really no big deal to me, but to people outside this business, it’s completely fascinating.

So mystery solved as to why so many of us end up dating and marrying each other.

Have you ever dated anyone in the business before? Are you married to someone in the business? Comment below and let me know. I’d love to hear from you!