This real life moment from the creator of “Doug” is making us crylaugh

If you were a child of the ’90s, odds are you watched (and loved) the Nickelodeon show Doug, a cartoon about the trials and tribulations of nice guy Doug Funnie. But you may not have known that Doug was largely based on the life and adolescence of the show’s creator, Jim Jinkins.

Not only that, but according to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Doug’s longtime crush Patti Mayonnaise was also based on a real person, and Jinkins had a very real, very hilarious, and very awkward encounter with her years later when they were all grown up.

“I was in New York working like crazy as a freelancer and just trying to make it there,” Jinkins said. “And I got a phone call in New York and it’s Patti. The real Patti. And my heart’s beating fast. She’s like, ‘I was at the reunion! You weren’t!’ and I was like, ‘Yeah…sorry…I had to work.’ And she goes, ‘I found out you live in New York. Guess what — I do, too!’ And she told me where she lives. We lived across Central Park from each other. And she says, ‘Why don’t you come over for dinner?’”

Could it be?! Did the real-life Doug and the real-life Patti end up together IRL?!

Jinkins went on to say, “I’m like, what do I wear? What will she look like?! All that’s happening as I’m walking across Central Park to her apartment, just wondering and just hoping, all those things. I was, at the time, very available.”

OMG! It sounds like it might actually be happening!

Jinkins said he buzzed the doorbell and the real life Patti opened the door.

“She’s perfect. Just perfect. She just looks spectacular and she’s so happy, and her arms fly up and we hug […]. And then she wheels around and goes, ‘Oh, Jimmy, I want you to meet my husband.”

Cue record scratch.

So while it turns out the real life Doug and Patti never actually worked out, it’s okay. Jinkins said it makes for an “amazing story.” Plus, now we have this painful, yet oh-so-real life Doug moment to remember forever.