Blind dates are always a toss-up. Blind double dates, those just go against the odds. Sarah got a call on her office phone one day from one of Dan's brothers-in-law. There was some choice language involved, but he actually was a fan of a recent story she wrote. Sarah met Jon a few weeks later for his legal expertise (he's a lawyer) for a story she was working on. Then it was another few weeks after that when Sarah got a text from Jon: "Are you single?" That was shortly followed by another text saying he had someone for Sarah to meet who was "tall, educated and Canadian." How could Sarah say no to that? The date was in the books. Though it wasn't until less than 24 hours before that Sarah learned it would be a double date with Jon and his wife Jess, Dan's sister. Sarah still remembers walking in as Dan stood up at the table, and she immediately thought he was quite cute (and tall). He remembers the way the sun hit her hair as she took off her sunglasses. Dinner was great — they bonded over their love of Harry Potter — followed by a trip to the nearby Italian festival where they shared their favorite dirty jokes — that's what sealed the deal.

It wasn't until later that Sarah learned that the proposal didn't quite go according to plan. But it could not have been more perfect. Sarah and Dan were supposed to be in D.C. — where they took their first trip together — but the pandemic derailed those plans. Curled up on the couch in the condo they renovated together, Dan gave her a book full of pictures and captions from their first year and a half as a couple. Sarah made it through the book with only a respectable amount of tears, but closed the book prematurely. One page prematurely. Dan had to tell her that she'd missed one page. Sarah opened the book back up and then the tears really started flowing when she saw the words on the last page. (Dan may have shed a couple, too.)