One Saturday afternoon in October 2019, Victoria found herself on the Peninsula in the Bay Area, putting her within the 15-mile max radius necessary to show up on Matt’s dating app. Both profiles featured former collegiate athletes, dog owners, from top level universities and a love for family, friends, health and everything outdoors. After some back and forth over text, Matt and Victoria decided they were going to go on their first date. A hike in San Mateo, each of them would bring their fur baby. BUT, when the day came around, Victoria was on the verge of bailing – she had just watched the Ted Bundy series and was terrified Matt could be some kind of murderer. Her good friend Tara, however, stepped in and played cupid for the day, convincing her to give the date a shot and insisting that Matt was most likely not a murderer. As Victoria pulled up to the reservoir, she saw a fluffy white head sticking out the back of a blue Malibu with chromed-out rims. Could this be him?! Indeed, the fluffy head was that of Zelda and the boy inside the sweet ride was Matt. Victoria rolled up with an excitable Lennon sitting in the passenger seat and asked “are you Matt?”, to which he confirmed. :) Then came the second trust-fall of the first date, this one was for Matt. Victoria informed Matt that the reservoir did not allow dogs, so they had to go to another small lake called Water Dog Lake, and that he should follow her. He obliged. After what felt like 20 minutes of winding down disparate roads, Matt lost service and a sense of direction. He had no idea where they were going. Matt began to think to himself… “am I going to be part of some type of murder mystery”. It’s important to note that true-crime was really riding a big wave of excitement at that time… When they finally arrived, the date flew by. 2.5 hours (the perfect first date length according to research) of amazing conversation about life, dreams, education, aspiration and so much more. The emotional connection was undeniable. The first date was sealed by a kiss on the hood of Victoria’s Mini Cooper and a promise to meet again. So began the beginning of their love story. Rooted in excitement, patience and trust.