In winter 2020, Dylan and Mara found themselves aimlessly swiping through tinder. They each found aspects of one another's profiles that made them want to swipe right. It was Dylan's old Bob Ross Halloween costume for Mara, and for Dylan, maybe it was Mara's smile or her bio. Dylan went right for it and asked Mara out on a date. They agreed to go to the movies ... the day after valentines day. Flash forward to that Saturday; Mara was having second thoughts and was very anxious about going on a date as she had a history of just not going and making excuses. However, the weekend prior, Mara had let it slip to some of her friends that she had a date coming up. They ran Mara out of the building and made her go. Once Mara made it to the local movie theater, of course, a couple of minutes late. She saw Dylan standing out front; she smiled and walked toward him. That is when Dylan handed her two king-size Reeses peanut butter cups. "I made sure to bring these with me!" The two went into the movie theater to see The Birds of Prey. And from that day, the rest was history.

Because Dylan and Mara started dating during the height of the pandemic, they had decided to take things a little slow and not put a label on their relationship until they knew if they would both be returning to school in person. That brings us to the end of summer 2020. Dylan drove to Dinkytown in Minneapolis to help Mara move out of her summer apartment. Afterward, they went out for dinner and hit a couple of bars before calling it a night. In the last bar of the night, Dylan and Mara found themselves at the Newstand drinking "flower-child" martinis. Mara and Dylan decided they were ready to make it official there. On August 21, 2020, in Minneapolis, Mara and Dylan finally decided to start dating. But in DC, the Smithsonian Zoo welcomed a new baby Panda Bear named Xiao Qi Ji, which translates to "little miracle." Two years later, Mara and Dylan are at the Smithsonian Zoo while they are in DC to celebrate their second anniversary. In front of the Panda Bears, Dylan got down on one knee and asked Mara to marry him! It wasn't until later that afternoon that Mara and Dylan realized the connection between the now two-year-old Panda cub and their anniversary - they found it fitting and as though their engagement was always supposed to be in front of the Panda Bears.