In February 2018, we both went to an apartment party in Berkeley... ...and didn't meet. Three years later, in April 2021, we matched on Hinge. Ethan made the first move with a message about Pokémon and the UC Berkeley dorms. Sparks really flew when we discovered we had both boycotted a recent Pokémon game that didn't meet our standards. A match made in dweeb heaven. Neither of us was looking for anything serious at the time. Ethan was planning to move back to San Francisco, and Cortland was applying to medical schools across the country. But after bonding over our shared love for Nintendo, animal welfare, and spirited debate, we realized we had no choice but to be in a relationship. After a year of dating, we began what we affectionately call our “medium-distance” relationship: Cortland moved to Fresno for medical school, and Ethan stayed in LA. For three years, we made it work with the help of FaceTime and good gas mileage. In between drives, we’ve squeezed in countless adventures: camping in the Sequoias and Yosemite, roadtripping the California and Oregon coast, and traveling together to Japan, Mexico City, Belize, Hawaii, and Canada. But what we love most is doing our own thing together, whether that's gaming, reading, or solving sudoku side by side. On March 15, 2025, Ethan proposed on the beach in Malibu, outside The Sunset restaurant, under the guise of a birthday dinner for Cortland’s mom. Cortland said yes, completely unaware that friends and family were secretly waiting upstairs for a surprise engagement party. After years of medium-distance logistics, we’re beyond excited to finally move in together after the wedding, wherever life (and the 2026 residency match) takes us next (March 2026 update: Stanford!!!!!). A couple things we can guarantee in our life together are a small army of rescued animals and a comfy couch for endless hours of side-by-side gaming.