We met via a virtual speed dating event for a YSA Valentine’s speed dating event in 2021. Thankfully I enjoyed the conversation enough to ask for Jacob’s number so I could find him later. We texted soon afterwards to set up a Zoom date for the following weekend.

We went on three subsequent Zoom dates to talk about our lives, passions, dreams, and motivations before we both proposed ways to meet up together in person in a few weeks. I lived in Boston, Massachusetts and Jacob lived two hours away in New Haven, Connecticut, so he drove up to visit for the day and we walked a whopping 20,912 steps around Boston and Cambridge, talking about all sorts of fascinating and insightful topics ranging from the secular to self-revealing. After 10.5 hours together that day, each of us harbored very sweet feelings for the other, and so we decided to date exclusively exactly a month after our first date. Due to our distance and educational pursuits, we met up on the weekends every 2 weeks during school semesters, and every week during the summer.

We ended up getting engaged over the summer after deciding that we wanted to be together forever, and I was able to make arrangements to work mostly remotely as a PhD student with an occasional commute to Boston so that I could move to Connecticut to be with Jacob, a medical student. We got married in December 2021 and are so happy!! If it weren’t for this virtual speed dating event, we likely wouldn’t have met at all, and yet we feel that we are perfect for each other! Thanks again!