Owen and I met Feb 2021 (yes peak covid). At the time I was an intern, just coming off of nights, then working in the ER at Uchicago. I went to med school at UNC in North Carolina, where on day 1, I met one of my closest friends, Hunter Smith. Turns out Hunter is also one of Owen's closest friends since CHILDHOOD (8th grade). Owen was actually the best man in Hunter's wedding! When I was in med school, Owen was living in L.A. He came to North Carolina to visit Hunter but we never crossed paths. I was either out of town, or there was one night he came late to a party and I left early because I was having stomach pain lol. Long story short, we matched on the dating app hinge, not in N.C., but when we were both living IN CHICAGO. He was not loving the dating and traffic of L.A. so he moved to Chicago, which is a place that has always been special to his family. I moved to Chicago for residency in 2020. I was nervous to download hinge, so I used a fake name of Lauren Skogstad. I had on my profile UNC school of medicine listed under education Owen messaged me "Hey, do you know Hunter Smith?" (suave opening line..but hey it worked) At the time I was actually with another one of our med school friends, who had met Owen on Hunter's bachelor party. He instantly said "Oh I know Owen! I love that guy!" I panicked and quickly texted Hunter, "Hi, you might get a text from your friend Owen asking if you know a 'Lauren Skogstad' from med school; It's actually me. I was scared about going on hinge so I used a fake name. I need you to vouch for me so he doesn't think I'm a weirdo!" We met on our first date at Homeslice Pizza. Our first date didn't feel like we had just met on an app, because we shared stories about our mutual friends. These friends we share are some high-quality humans, so I knew I was in good company. Our subsequent dates were all awesome. Owen braved a long ride on the red line many times to commute to south loop, there were some crazy Chicago snowstorms, and many of our dates were at weird hours, post-call, but we always found a way to see each other. Now we finally get to say I-do!