In 2013, the “Tinder” smartphone app became available to all users, bringing app-based dating from something solely used by the LGBTQ+ community into the greater mainstream, providing equality by allowing everybody to have awful and weird dates. 6 years later, and after about 1000 app dates each, Jess and Harrison met on “Hinge,” the more sophisticated of the dating apps (but not nearly as sophisticated as Raya, which one has to be a celebrity or a billionaire to use). Like most from the apps, Jess and Harrison’s first date was unremarkable. Both acted reserved and the date ultimately ended in an awkward hug where Harrison said, “It was nice meeting you.” However, after Harrison’s friend Ben told him that he was an idiot, he asked Jess out on a second date to give it another chance. Jess considered it carefully and then agreed to go on a second date. A week later, Jess and Harrison met at a bar. Now recovering from a pre-COVID era upper respiratory infection, Jess’s prescribed antibiotic regimen precluded her from drinking alcohol. The two ordered ginger ale from a very disappointed bartender and ran up a tab of $3.96. Powered by carbonated beverages, the sparks flew and the new couple laughed into the night as well as into the rest of their lives.

In the spring, Jess and Harrison traveled to Southeastern Utah for an epic hiking trip through several national parks. Following a long hike up to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Harrison insisted that they take the time to shower and change so that they would look presentable to eat dinner at a nice restaurant. To kill time before their late dinner reservation, Harrison suggested driving to the overlook at Dead Horse Point State Park to see the sunset. After walking several paces from the car, they arrived at the beautiful view on foot in their dinner attire. After seeing Harrison move to snap a selfie of the couple, a tourist offered to take the picture and posed Jess and Harrison in the perfect spot. It was then that this “tourist” pulled out her professional camera, a second “tourist” pulled out a professional camera from a further vantage point, and Harrison dropped to his knee and proposed, revealing the whole situation to be the first and only and last time Harrison ever lied to Jess. The tourists were professional photographers, and after Jess said yes, cried, and confirmed that Harrison had asked for her parents’ permission beforehand, Jess reapplied her makeup in the car, before the couple would go on to pose for photos until the sun went down.