It was love at first sight for Sean Parsons and Charlene Allen.
It started with a simple TikTok duet – Allen posted her own video side by side with one of Parsons, both dubbing Katy Perry’s song ET
Then the two, both single parents, started talking.
“I knew in that moment that there was something. It was like a magnet that drew me in,” Allen said.
Parsons, 36, sent Allen, 37, more videos for a duet and two weeks later — the weekend before Valentine’s Day 2021 — he made his way from Ottawa to Niagara Falls to meet her in person.
“I gave him a little sign not to miss the house,” Allen laughed, recalling the first meeting. “Of course he missed the house.”
That first night, Parsons said he was nervous, but the butterflies went away after he and Allen stayed up all night talking.
“Before we knew it, the sun was up,” he recalls.
Three months later, Allen moved in with him in Ottawa.
“I always said I’d never move from Niagara Falls until I met him… [but] it just felt right to me.”
“Would you believe it’s not a dating app?”
The couple knew early on that they had a lot in common.
Both were recently separated. She raised four boys in Niagara Falls and he raised four girls in Ottawa.
“We lived similar lives, just in different cities,” Allen said.
Both were not looking for love.
Parsons wasn’t interested in online dating and although Allen had tried dating apps in the past, she quickly deleted her accounts when it became too overwhelming.
So it surprised her friends and family to learn that they not only met online, but also via the popular video hosting app, where it’s more common to chat about dance trends or music and comedy mashups.
“From an app that just is [for] When you’re making music videos, you really don’t expect to meet someone and have a conversation and have that much in common,” Parsons said, adding that it’s kind of a joke for her kids, who range in age from six to 16 years.
“[There’s this] line they use when [Allen’s] Boys explain it to all their friends at school,” Parsons said.
“‘Would you believe it’s not a dating app?'”
The Parsons Bunch is spreading hope
Two years later and with a new addition to the household – 10-month-old baby Maria, nicknamed “TikTok Baby” – the family of 11 couldn’t be happier.
“From the beginning I’ve always called us Parsons Bunch,” Allen joked, adding that she tried to make up her own lyrics to the parody The Brady Bund theme song.
But the real story for people to take away from their families is one of hope and courage.
“I’ve always said if you don’t have hope, you have nothing. And hope brought me to Sean,” she said.
“There’s always love out there, even when you feel like there’s nothing for you.”
Parsons echoes the sentiment.
“Never be afraid to show yourself out there. If you think it’s impossible, that’s more of a reason to do it.”
