You’re Invited

Courtney was cat-sitting for a friend. Gil was in-between camping trips. Both were figuring out how to date during a pandemic. It’s true, they met on Hinge, an online dating app with the tagline “designed to be deleted.” And it wasn’t long before they did exactly that. They had their first date via Zoom in July 2020… a few more Zoom dates followed that. Then one day Gil suggested a distanced park date at Farnsworth Park in Altadena, CA. They sat 6 feet apart, each on their own blanket. But the emotional connection they felt seemed to easily bridge the physical gap.

These new friends had to get creative with their socially distanced dates. There were many distanced park dates, a few summer evening walks. Then one evening, sitting on their own blankets at Library Park in Monrovia, CA, Gil asked Courtney, “Would you like to sit on my blanket?” In those words, the sign of something more. Butterflies, and a gamble on growing affection, worth the risk of shared germs. They enjoyed a minute of closeness – before the park sprinklers turned on.

Not only did Courtney and Gil have to get creative while dating during a pandemic, but also during one of the worst wildfire seasons Southern California has seen in recent years. Park dates were now out of the question. There was simply too much smoke in the air to spend any lingering time outside. So they opened up their homes to each other… and as they did, they also opened up their hearts.

Through the pandemic’s unpredictability, its surges and waves, one thing remained constant, stable, trustworthy: the growing love and affection Courtney and Gil shared for each other. In October, after watching the sunset at Venice Beach, Gil asked Courtney to be his girlfriend, and they’ve been hitting the beach together ever since. After a little over a year of dating, becoming best friends, and loving each other deeper every day, it was only fitting that Gil propose in one of their favorite places this last December – a beach under the golden light of the sun’s setting rays.