This single mom hung out at her kid’s school to meet a cute single dad. Now they’re married

When Dorilee Lavin, a divorced mom of 3, decided she was ready to meet someone, she sat down and listed the qualities she was seeking in a partner.

“I manifested him hard,” Dorilee, 39, tells TODAY.com.

The universe worked quickly. Three days after writing the list, Dorilee was picking up her kids from school when she spotted a tall, dark-haired dad walking hand-in-hand across the parking lot with his two daughters.

Dorilee felt a smile spread across her face. She remembers not being able to look away.

“It was the sweetest thing ever — like an image you’d see in a magazine,” she recalls. "They had such a happy energy."

Dorilee, who lives in Shelburne, Vermont, couldn’t figure out how she had never seen this "ruggedly handsome" man before, given the town’s population of roughly 6,000. Was he a figment of her imagination, she wondered?

“Somehow we had never crossed paths," Dorilee says. “With every fiber of my being, I recognize and appreciate that I met him at that time I was supposed to."

In a now-viral TikTok video, Dorilee shared how she began hanging out at her children’s school hoping to see the “hot dad.” At this point, Dorilee had done some internet sleuthing and determined that he was single.

“I’m not a shy person. I was looking for an opportunity to introduce myself,” Dorilee says. When the opportunity didn’t present, a staff member at her kids’ after-care program offered to pass along Dorilee's number.

Within an hour, Dorilee received a text message from Sean Lavin, a divorced dad of two. He knew exactly who Dorilee was, and he was very interested. As it turns out, he had noticed her, too.

“I later learned he had a dream of a woman with long dark curly hair and a captivating energy,” Dorilee says. “Then when he saw me, he was blown away because I was the woman from his dream. I didn't believe him when he first told me the story, then he showed me the texts. He had messaged his friends about the dream."

They had their first date in June 2023, and tied the knot 111 days later. Dorilee's ex-husband was at the ceremony, and they also enjoy a healthy relationship with Sean's ex-wife.

"It's good, positive co-parenting," she says.

Sean, 38, proposed with a ring he designed himself. It features five diamonds on each side to represent the five children they now share. The center stone is a round cut, which Dorilee says is meant to represent their “easy love.”

“Everything has been easy from day one,” she says, noting that strangers often approach them asking if they want to have their picture taken because they look "so happy."

"When we go to Costco, we push our cart side-by-side together," she says. "I know that might sound cringe to some people, but we really like to have fun with all the little things."

Even blending the two families was seamless.

“I will never forget the first time that Sean and his girls spent the night. The next morning, my oldest comes over to me and is like, ‘Mom, when are they leaving?’” Dorilee remembers. “My heart sank. I told him I wasn’t sure — and he was goes, ‘Well, I was just wondering if they’re still here when it’s dark, can we play laser tag?’”

Dorilee describes it as “instant synchronicity.”

“We were meant to be,” she says.

Dorilee hopes her and Sean’s story will give other single moms hope that real love exists.

“Everything is mindset. If you say, ‘That’s never going to happen to me,’ then it’s not going to happen,” Dorilee explains. “But you say, ‘I am open to this, I know what I want, and I am ready for those wants, then you’re on the path to your person.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com