Greta and Zach met as staff members at OSRUI in the summer of 2019. Although they both grew up spending their summers at camp - and had logged a combined 20 summers in Oconomowoc up until that point - they somehow hadn’t yet crossed paths. Greta had eyes for Zach from the beginning and spent most of the summer alternating between flirting and trying to play it cool, and recruited mutual friends to help drop some not-so-subtle hints when Zach remained oblivious as the summer went on. Thanks to the professional-level scheming by friends, Zach and Greta rode in the same car to the Wisconsin State Fair for a night off with a big group during one of the last weeks of camp. They walked around the fair together, went for a ride on the SkyGlider where Greta remembered she was scared of heights and made Zach recite his entire life story as a distraction, and later bonded over a near-death experience driving back to camp through a bad thunderstorm. After staying up until 1 am listening to music and talking about life, Zach and Greta realized there was an undeniable spark between them. After camp ended for the summer, Zach headed back to the Chicago suburbs and Greta decided to spend a few days in Chicago to “visit her sisters” instead of trekking back to Minnesota right away. They used this time to see what it felt like to spend time together in the real world - outside of the camp bubble - and went on their first real date (and second and third). Greta ended up extending her stay in Chicago to nearly two weeks. A few weeks later, Zach braved a long Greyhound bus journey to visit Greta in the strange land of Minnesota - a place he'd only been once before. They had so much fun together that they made plans for the next month, too, to go camping at Devil’s Lake State Park for Greta’s birthday. In November of 2019, while Zach was living in Illinois and Greta had 1.5 years left of undergrad in Minnesota, they decided to make things official and give long distance a try.

Thanks to daily phone calls and FaceTimes, frequent movie nights using Netflix Party (where they would fall asleep with their Zoom calls still going so neither had to be the one to end the call), Greta and Zach made it through nearly 2 years of long-distance and a global pandemic. In 2021, the long-distance finally ended when Greta graduated from college and moved to Chicago to join Zach. He lived in Lakeview and she moved to an apartment just a mile away, in Wrigleyville. At last, they could walk over to see each other whenever they felt like it, instead of having to drive 400 miles! Whether it was hanging with camp friends, seeing live shows together, babysitting Greta’s nephew/niece/dogphew (dog + nephew…duh), having dinner with Zach’s family, belaying each other at the climbing gym, or even just grocery shopping together, living in the same city was a treat. When Greta got accepted to medical school at the University of Minnesota, the idea of doing long-distance again seemed impossible. It was Zach’s turn to take the leap and follow Greta to her home state, just as she had done for him. Greta and Zach moved to Minneapolis in the summer of 2023. After living together for 6 months, they decided it was time to grow their family... by adopting their dog Sammy, who they call their baby (they actually call him their “Perfect Baby Genius Boy”, or PBGB for short). In June 2024, Zach proposed to Greta at the park where they walk Sammy every day. They now have their hands full with two different graduate programs, doting on their PBGB, and pursuing many other side quests, but they've loved every second of it all. Most of all, they can’t wait to take the next step of their journey together at the place where it all started.