Gina and Pat met through the dating app Hinge. While Gina liked one of Pat's prompts, he left her in silence for several weeks. Luckily for Pat, Gina decided his prospects were sufficient to merit waiting. Pat eventually returned Gina’s message, and the ship sailed from there. Unfortunately, their romance kicked off in May 2020, so COVID’s reign of terror had just begun. This subjected our two star-crossed lovers to virtual dates before they ultimately decided to risk an in-person meet-up. They made butternut squash soup at Pat's abode, the recipe to which is proven to have a 100% success rate thus far. For the first year, their dates progressed similarly: a hike, home-cooked dinner, and a movie. This was until the vaccines came out, and the world slowly started emerging from its slumber. Since then, Gina and Pat have had many adventures together, including trekking to Machu Picchu, exploring the medieval town of Rothenberg, Germany; ice climbing in Ouray, Colorado for four days with no prior training; and many more. In July 2024, after four years of dating and learning just how strange both of them are, the two went backpacking in Sequoia National Park. They found themselves above treeline when a thunderstorm rolled in (which is not where you want to be in a storm). They ran down the meadow to take cover in the forest. The rain found them, and large claps of thunder signaled incoming lightning. After taking paltry cover under a tree and still getting soaked, Gina turned to see that Pat had produced a ring from his pocket. “Wanna be weird forever?” he asked. The answer was, of course, yes.