It's a tale as old as time, two 20-somethings swipe right and match on Tinder. As fate would have it, Isaac became Jen's first match after returning from her second Tinder sabbatical. Whether Isaac becoming Jen's first match was due to Jen's super high standards eliminating all other men, or Isaac's impeccable timing matching on Jen's first night back online, is still up for debate. After exchanging a few pleasantries, a first date was arranged after Isaac passive aggressively reminded Jen to pick a day. It was a Wednesday night when Isaac and Jen met at Goat's Beard in Manayunk to grab drinks. This took a slightly unexpected turn when Jen, expecting to sit at the bar, was thrown off by Isaac accepting a table from the hostess. The result of this was Isaac and Jen both awkwardly ordering and eating salads (despite having eaten dinner independently beforehand). Awkward salads aside, Isaac and Jen had good enough conversation to warrant a second date. Over the next couple weeks, Isaac and Jen stayed in regular contact texting until the "second date" which was Jen pulling an all nighter at Isaac's to write and submit a grad school paper as the lower half of New Jersey lost electricity. The true second date, as suggested by Jen, was a trip to the gun range to shoot Isaac's new pistol. Despite loving the idea, Isaac was mildly cautious as Jen had never shot a pistol before and putting a gun in the hand of a girl he'd spent 10 hours with was questionable at best. The date was (not) full of bull's eyes but the post range dinner at Han Dynasty hit the spot. After a few more months of regular official and unofficial dates, Isaac and Jen discussed where they saw the relationship going. Isaac was certain he wanted to make it official, while Jen needed some more convincing. Isaac gave Jen a one week ultimatum to convince herself, which, to the surprise of no one who knows Jen, required the full week. Jen agreed to make it official, and as they say, the rest is history.

After a couple years dating, and Isaac having successfully converted Jen into a Penn State fan, marriage was a topic that was discussed. Unlike officially dating, this was a topic Jen needed no convincing about, having apparently already decided a year before that she was ready. With a ring designed and ordered in May 2019, Isaac had a couple weeks to plan the proposal until the ring arrived. Once hearing the ring was ready, Isaac made plans to pick it up on June 29th. It was a Saturday, so easier to get to Center City, and Jen was babysitting all day which solved that issue. Isaac would just do a quick morning cycling ride to train for the MS 150 with three friends, and then go pick up the ring. Long story short, the ring would not get picked up that day, and Isaac would finish his bike ride in the back of an ambulance after going from 30mph to 0mph using his shoulder and face as a brake. Unable to care for himself for weeks, nurse Jen was there to care for Isaac 24/7, no questions asked. Isaac, aware he already had a ring, was never more confident he had made the best decision of his life but equally confident he could’ve found out in less painful ways. Knowing marriage was on the horizon given previous discussions and as manager of the nearly full upcoming calendar (except for one day), Jen mentally prepared for an August 10th proposal, knowing it was the only free day. This made Isaac’s planned August 3rd proposal the perfect date as they were booked, busy driving home from the Hershey family vacation and had evening plans meeting Isaac’s cousin, Katie, and her husband, Cam, for dinner. Little did Jen know, the dinner plans were a ruse, carefully orchestrated so that Isaac and Jen would meet Katie in the 18th Century Garden, just in time for Katie to have to go fetch Cam, who was nearby “on an important work call.” With the garden now to themselves, Isaac got down on one knee and mumbled just enough romantic words to elicit tears and an enthusiastic yes.