Like so many modern couples, we matched on a dating app in early 2021. We had a bit of a bumpy start since Ren was living in San Francisco, and Suzanne was living near Lake Tahoe, four hours away. Neither one of us was particularly interested in a long distance relationship, but we couldn't deny that we were drawn to each other. Ren loved Suzanne's adventurous spirit (she agreed to go on a motorcycle trip to Big Sur for their third date), and everything Ren did made Suzanne laugh (intentionally or not). Suzanne started a new job in the summer of 2021 that put her in the Bay Area for work a few weeks every month, so we were able to spend even more time and long weekends together. We took trips to Santa Cruz, LA, Mammoth Lakes, and Utah together, and we knew that this was the real thing because we were having a lot of fun and only wanted to kill each other maybe 10% of the time. In early 2022, we decided to move in together, but neither one of us wanted to move where the other person lived. Luckily, we both had fully remote jobs at that point and could move anywhere. Ren did a ton of research (he watched YouTube videos), and we settled on moving to Oceanside, CA near San Diego. Within a few months, we had bought a house together and relocated with our menagerie of pets (currently up to five cats and one dog). On May 12, 2023 (Suzanne's birthday), Ren asked Suzanne if she wanted to make it official, even though it was already pretty official (getting a mortgage together is not a small commitment). She said yes!