After meeting on Tinder in the middle of the Pandemic, we knew there was something special when we literally could not stop texting or talking on the phone for weeks. We first met in person at Volunteer Park in Seattle when the wildfire smoke finally cleared long enough to have a date in the park. Jake brought his dog Roland, and he immediately spotted me, and bounded right up to me as if we’d met hundreds of times. Jake, the true romantic he is, brought me a beautiful bouquet of a dozen roses. We ate homegrown and nervously sneaked glances at eat other across a picnic blanket, Jake was healing a fresh tattoo— the first of many in our relationship— and we talked for hours on end.

One of our most sacred spots as a couple is Madrona Beach in Leschi. It's where we met for our second date on a stormy Wednesday night in late September. We sought cover under a little picnic shelter, sat socially distanced on separate blankets all bundled up in layers of jackets. We talked for hours drinking tea and red wine to stay warm and played 20 questions (which we now call "infinite questions") late into the night. This was the first night we knew we had found something really special.

We had to get pretty creative with dating in the pandemic, and one of those ways was house sitting together. Jake had a fun side business of house and pet sitting, which meant we could safely spend time together indoors (gasp!) and really get to know each other, cooking meals (mostly freshly baked bread), watching shows, playing guitar & singing, all the while falling more in love. We first got to house sit for two little wiener dogs named Oscar and Otis at a beautiful home in Brier, WA. We spent a memorable NYE at a home in Bothell house sitting an elderly little dog named Figment, binge-ing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy *extended addition* of course and eating lots of Taco Bell. These experiences really cemented our bond and our knowledge that we could spend a LOT of time together and were only falling more in love.

Jake and I were so excited to move in together, we jumped at the chance to live in a small but cozy little Ravenna apartment. The neighborhood was full of nostalgia from Jake's days at UW and home to many happy memories from Cass’ teen years and early 20's in Seattle. Less than 24 hours after moving in to our new place, we heard a terrifying scratching noise above our heads and the next day we determined we were most definitely living in a place with rodents in the ceiling... after a short stint of our best attempt at Grossman & Coulter: Attorneys at Law, we thankfully were able to get out of the lease. We then found a new place that had a perfect location in quaint Madison Park and Cassady has been happily filling the place with plants ever since.

The first day of our lease in Madison Park, June 1, 2021, it was a scorching hot 90+ degrees. The two of us made about 3 or 4 trips to Redmond and Mount Baker, all the while Jake being his happy self but also every so often asking "are you having a good day?” which I didn't think anything of at the time. We had reservations for our first ever dining experience at a restaurant (lol covid dating) at a very fancy restaurant in Madison Park called 'How to Cook a Wolf.' We sat down for our reservation in their plexiglass seating area and immediately began melting in the makeshift greenhouse. After an uncomfortable 15 minutes, we reviewed the menu and very quickly realized if we stayed, we'd be spending $200 to eat the only vegetarian option on the menu-- some sort of pasta with peas. So we did the only thing we could think of and ducked out of there as soon as possible, and followed our noses down the street to Bamboo Thai, and ordered our staple Phad See Ew & took it to go. Jake said he had an idea and I followed him into Bert's Red Apple where we picked out a bottle of Rose to have with dinner, so we hopped in the CRV and drove down Lake Washington Boulevard to a surprise location. As we approached, I slowly realized that we were going to be eating at our favorite spot-- Madrona Beach! But still, I didn't have a real idea that this was going to be the site of his proposal. After a few bites of Phad See Ew and a glass of wine, Jake brought out his guitar and asked if he could play me our song, "uuu" by Field Medic, and he asked me to marry him. We both cried happy tears overlooking Lake Washington as the sun set around us, one of the most memorable days of both of our lives to date. We now share two little rascals, our cats Ollie and Benji, which we picked up from a shelter only a few days after moving in which was a *bold* move on Cass’s part. But the crazy little fuzz balls are the little loves of our lives, and we can’t wait to give them more space than they have in our 600-Sq foot apartment.