Jane and Jon first crossed paths when Jane rode quickly past him on a bike in McKeldin Mall at the University of Maryland, College Park. Jon watched her speed by, was immediately love-stricken, and thought "wow, who is she?" Jane did not notice him. Technically, Jon and Jane first met through an online dating website. They matched each other with an impressive score of 99% compatible, exchanged basically one message back and forth about the classic indie band Neutral Milk Hotel, and did not message again. Jane deleted her profile and Jon thought better about bringing up the classic indie band Neutral Milk Hotel again in future dating attempts. Jon insists that they next crossed paths a semester later at WMUC, UMD's college radio station, when he noticed her looking at a pile of free (likely terrible) albums and made some dumb comment. She responded with a quip but did not turn around, thinking, "oh no, another boy from that dating website." Jane finally admits to noticing Jon later that night, after he played his set over the radio. He stopped by the Music Director's office, where Jane was impressively turning the usually cacophonous room into an incredibly well-organized and pleasant space to be. He stood in the door and complimented her efforts. She complimented his sweater and his music taste. Later on, both would remark to friends that they had "met someone," and were immediately smitten. Jon was finally confident enough to ask her to Korean BBQ a few days later. Three dates and a month later, and they both said what they'd known from that first date. They were, as they say, "a thing."

Jane and Jon fell in love pretty quickly. They had quite a lot in common, and over the next six years, would only make themselves more similar. Jane rapidly expanded Jon's cuisine experience and singled-handedly made him love spicy Thai food, took him to tons of concerts, musicals, and performances, taught him all about housing and transportation, and even showed him Ikea for the first time. Jon got into tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and then quickly roped Jane into all of his many campaigns, got her into beer (sorry!), and showed her countless TV shows, movies, books, and video games. Wow, way to be a stereotypical millennial man, Jon! Jon and Jane started dating when Jon was in his last semester at college, and Jane was in her second. He quickly reassured her that he wasn't going anywhere, and they spent most weekends together for the remainder of her college career. In Spring 2017, two years into their relationship, they went on a vacation in Lisbon, Portugal for eight days and had an incredible time, completing that classic test of a relationship's viability. Around that time, they gathered a few friends together to try playing RPGs (improvisational, collaborative storytelling with some rules and dice), and eventually formed a whole friend group out of it, one that they're still incredibly close to today. And they're still playing every other weekend! In Summer 2019, they went on a vacation to Italy and ate their way around Venice, Bologna, Florence, and Rome. In retrospect, great timing on that one! They finally moved into an apartment in Silver Spring together in July 2019. They spent a glorious eight months enjoying the city before the pandemic hit, and then spent a very long time in each others presence for nearly every second. That part of all of this has actually been pretty great. They just like each other a whole bunch.

Jane and Jon, not being ones for stuffy tradition, actually sat down and discussed the prospect of marriage instead of just assuming the other felt the same way. Luckily, they felt the same way, and decided that (theoretically) Jon would propose at some point in the future. Jane wanted to be done with grad school for at least a year before any (theoretical) proposal, which would put the proposal at around Summer 2020, and this was Jon's plan for over a year. And then, well. You know. A day before the first major lockdown happened, Jane and Jon went to look at wedding rings, and Jane selected which ring she would (theoretically) like to have. Jon noted it, and planned on buying it soon. Then, the Unpleasantness began, pushing back the proposal date several months. By October 2020, Jon came to the realization that he'd like to propose before the year's end. He ordered the ring, hid it in the super-secret hiding place, and immediately messaged the girls of their friend group to help him plan the actual engagement. Their RPG group (and former members) converged at their friends' place in Arlington, which was beautiful set up for a socially distant encounter, beautifully decorated, and liberally supplied with delicious food (mostly pies) and drinks. They all sat down at each household's appointed table, and the hosts stood up to initiate the plan. Each person was to stand up and give a short speech about what they were thankful for. These speeches were being "filmed" through a phone on a tripod (but actually only Jon's speech was). They arranged it so that Jon would go last, but before Jane. He stood up, nervous, and gave a short speech of what he was genuinely thankful for, and then transitioned to speaking to Jane directly and saying why he loved her. And then he dropped to a knee and held out the ring. In case you weren't sure, she said yes, everyone cheered, and then we all ate some great food. Jon would especially like to thank everyone who made it happen!