It was May 2020. James’s start-up school in Zimbabwe had been interrupted by Covid and he was waiting out the pandemic in Florida. While eating rice and beans for dinner one night (which could have been any night, really) the Bumble algorithm somehow surfaced a yoga-teaching, chihuahua-owning, fintech professional from New York City. Lauren was also quarantining in Florida, a place she swore she would never be for more than a week. Lauren’s photos of Icelandic adventures and city life were enough to make James forget where he was for a moment. On the other side of the phone, Lauren was just happy that James wasn’t shirtless, showing off his truck, or holding up a fish he had just caught. So they planned a date, which James unwisely cancelled, thinking he had to head back to Zimbabwe soon. Two weeks later, with James still unable to return to Zimbabwe, the Facebook algorithm popped up Lauren’s profile on his screen once again. This time, he didn’t make the same mistake, and they met for a walk on the beach. That walk finally ended a month later when James had to return to Zimbabwe for real. In the meantime they had gotten matching tattoos, Lauren had become a vegetarian, and they were dreaming of buying land together in Colorado, unsure which of the three was a bigger leap of faith. One year on from that first date - after two visits to Zimbabwe, three dogs adopted, up-close encounters with elephants and monkeys, the dream property in Colorado purchased, and far too many hours on the phone, they have been inseparable ever since. When they finally made it to New York together, James proposed in the Central Park Ramble. In December 2021, they welcomed a new baby to the family - of the chihuahua kind - and wish for more in the future, including perhaps a human child as well. As their family grows, they won’t be needing any more lucky algorithms to keep them together.