In March 2020, the world suddenly came to a halt. A ripple of isolation washed over the globe as Covid took over. Virtual community became a staple. Erin began to have weekly hangouts with a friend from Fuller Seminary, Jeremiah. The conversation swirled around three main topics: teaching, theology, and terrible dating conditions. Erin and Jeremiah decided to do something about that last one and ventured to set up one another. Enter Andy. After some preliminary texting to test the waters, Andy set up a first date. It was over coffee in the Heights that Erin and Andy discovered they grew up just 10 houses away from one another. "Near the Dairy Ashford Roller Rink. Around the corner from the school. Right there at the baseball fields?!" Coffee turned into dinner, turned into donuts, turned into a drive around town, turned into a second date, turned into "let's just be friends". Plot twist! Andy did not in fact want to be just friends but it would take 7 months for him to come to that conclusion. Meanwhile, Erin continued to go on first dates and Andy continued to be the loyal friend he is, popping over for lockdown lunch breaks, going on walks, and salvaging bad dates and difficult days. (There are many good stories from this season but you can hear those later.) Then, on January 2, 2021, Erin went on a date that Andy found particularly bothersome. Erin may have been aware of this and let him squirm a bit. The next night, Andy came over and confessed that he did not care for Erin going on dates with other guys. After much discussion and laughter, the two agreed to give it a shot. Two years, a house, a dog, a couple of roadtrips, and many stories later, on February 11, 2023, Andy suggested they play a boardgame called Mysterium. He promptly set up the game which includes a partition between the two players. He chose to be the clue-giver who hands clue cards to the player on the other side of the divider. It was a particularly rough round for the actual gameplay, but when the time came for the last set of clues, Andy handed Erin the clue cards with a box. He had somehow kept the box hidden while he set up the game! Erin had no clue! He asked. She said "Yes!" So friends, here we are. A lifetime of boardgames and bliss await.