By attending college on the East Coast as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, Claire and Kevin inevitably ran in similar circles. Almost definitely the first time they met was at a church conference hosted by Princeton students - Kevin likely checked Claire in, although neither have any memory of meeting. A few months later, both attended a retreat in Western Massachusetts where there is photographic evidence that they at least stood next to each other. Kevin remembers the quiet girl with a streak of red hair, while Claire is quiet about what she does or does not remember thinking about Kevin.

After graduating, Claire moved to Boston for work, and Kevin did the same a year later. Though both attended the same church, because of the pandemic they failed to reconnect for several months. Finally, they re-met on a double date at an apple orchard - the only problem? They were on dates with other people! Luckily they drove up in the same car and were able to establish that they had almost definitely spoken... at some point.

The next weekend, Kevin's friend was in town and wanted to go on a double date. Claire happened to be one of the few girls in the area that Kevin was already facebook friends with, and after all, she did seem pretty cute. He crossed his fingers that her apple orchard date wasn't too incredible and shot his shot. Claire almost said no to that first date but realized that she didn't have a good reason to, and besides, how bad could a double date be? Turns out, Kevin was a little cuter than Claire had imagined under that covid mask, and she was impressed with his intelligence, his sincerity, and their depth of conversation. Kevin thought Claire was a little quiet, but easy to talk to and relate to - and almost certainly smarter than him (score!).

Claire and Kevin quickly realized they wanted to see more of each other, but dating during a pandemic was a little more complicated than they expected. Their first month of dating took place entirely outside; the second month was entirely over zoom, as Claire went home to spend time with her family. Even once they were both back in the same city and had accepted each other into their bubbles, covid scares and quarantines meant they often had to get creative with last-minute virtual dates and fun activities that didn't involve leaving one of their apartments. For example, one President's Day they completely tore apart Kevin's bedroom to set up an elaborate art heist - complete with string "laser beams" and paper security cameras - and timed each other to see who could steal the artifacts the fastest (Claire won). Over time, Kevin and Claire both realized that this was something special. Kevin was a little quicker to come to that conclusion, but when he was gone for a week on a backpacking trip with no cell service, Claire realized that she didn't want to spend her life without him.

Kevin knew he wanted the proposal to be a surprise, even if they had already talked about marriage (and booked a wedding venue). Since the fact he was proposing wasn't a surprise, Kevin came up with a plan - to act like he was proposing on every date. For three months. Kevin proceeded to take Claire on 30 dates - big and small, many on anniversaries of significant events from the previous year (yes, including the fake first date). All were scheduled on a shared calendar, and Claire spent a little too much time trying to figure out which dates he was most likely to propose on, and which days she could stay in her sweatpants.

Kevin was sneakier than Claire gave him credit for, and got one of Claire's friends to invite the two of them over for games on a day with no proposal scheduled. Despite increasing evidence that something more was going on, Claire was totally oblivious because, in her mind, she had been the one to invite Kevin to get together with her friend. Kevin had created an escape room in a box for them to play together, and once Claire got in the escape room zone she missed all of the not-so-subtle clues that this hadn't actually been made by her friend's "coworker". Together, they decoded the first clue - a letter that would unlock a briefcase (no, Claire did not notice that the code they found was their wedding date). But inside of the briefcase, instead of more puzzles to solve, were notes and photos from Claire and Kevin's relationship - and of course, a ring. Claire said yes, and the rest is history!

Claire is staying on at her job at a nonprofit in downtown Boston and Kevin recently switched to a new startup working on automated greenhouses just outside the city, so they found an apartment in the Boston area that splits the difference between two opposite commutes. Come visit next time you're in New England and they'll be happy to show you around!