Picture it, 2020, in the middle of COVID-19 lockdown.

Rachel had just come out of a relationship, but was encouraged to "check things out."

Bandon, in the throes of grad school and with lockdown in place, had basically given up on any hope of romance. He even literally closed down most of his dating apps.

So, Rachel did what any bored person during a pandemic would do: send messages to people on dating apps. By all logic, given that Bandon had basically shut down most of his dating apps, they would have never met.

Except Bandon forgot one app.

One day in early April, Rachel stumbled on his profile on that app, found it intriguing, and messaged Bandon.

Bandon had no idea what to make of this, but replied anyway.

They ended up chatting until one in the morning, because, realistically, who actually had a bedtime during the pandemic?

This continued via text and occasional Zoom dates until August 29th, 2020, when they were both comfortable enough with each other (and the world at large) to meet at the Loose Park Rose Garden for a first date. Rachel desperately needed to Get Out of the House, and Bandon was excited to meet them in a relatively safe, open-air environment.

After about a five hour date walking around Loose Park, which also included stargazing and plenty of photos (and frankly, a pretty magical experience), they decided to keep up the conversation. (Strictly speaking, we probably should have been kicked out of the park as late as it was very much after dark, but, hey.)

Photos