Fifteen Years Apart

In 1999 the parents of Erik de Vries and Josephine Egbert split and went their separate ways. Erik and his twin brother, Maarten, moved to Belgium with their father. Josephine, however, remained in the Dutch town of Breda with her mother. Although Maarten and Erik had attempted to find and contact their sister over the years, their search remained fruitless. That was until Erik discovered a girl on Tinder and swiped right.

Finally Reunited

Erik eventually returned to the Netherlands in order to study. In March, at the age of 24, he decided to join Tinder and began swiping. “The first time I swiped her profile I had absolutely no idea,” de Vries admits. De Vries went on to explain that he had forgotten about Josephine after he and Maarten gave up the search for her a few years ago. So, thinking that she was just a pretty stranger, Erik began talking to her.

“In our first conversation, I was actually flirting with her,” de Vries says, “so the conversation was very superficial.” Thankfully, that situation did not last very long. After speaking to Josephine a little longer, the two began to connect the dots. Suspecting that this Tinder match may actually be related to him, Erik decided to simply bite the bullet and ask about her complete identity.

Family Portrait

Tinder does have a reputation for being a superficial dating app. It goes primarily by looks, though stories like this do happen especially in the world of online. “When I saw him, it was suddenly very clear,” says Egberts, 22, “it was so special to see my own blood brother again after 16 years.”

The three siblings have obviously been spending the time after the incident reconnecting. The online dating world can bring all sorts of people together. While everyone goes into it expecting and hoping for a romantic relationship, there is no doubt that sometimes other pleasant surprises are just around the corner.