We connected on a popular dating app, and the conversation quickly took off with sarcasm and affectionate intellectual banter - two things that would turn out to be cornerstones of our relationship. 

Not long after, our first date nearly was cancelled due to a family health scare, but it ended up working out. The quick after-work dinner turned into hours of conversation and laughter. A second date, to the annual Dartmouth Homecoming bonfire, was delightful too and the rest is history. 

A few months later we got to spend 48 glorious hours visiting Harry Potter World and Epcot together, at the tail end of Kristen's surgical education conference. 

It ended up being our only trip together to-date, because shortly thereafter the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, changing all of our lives forever.

Although it was a scary time to be working in healthcare, we were also both grateful for stable jobs and the opportunity to help others. 

Jason graduated residency in emergency medicine and started fellowship in palliative medicine, Kristen continued her two years of research time, and like everyone else in the pandemic we learned to navigate food / toilet paper shortages, spent way too much time on Zoom, and baked sourdough bread (well Kristen baked, Jason provided moral support).

All too quickly, Kristen's two years of research time in Boston came to a close, she headed back to Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, and we became a long-distance / trans-continental couple. 

Being long-distance brought different challenges to our relationship but also helped us be more intentional and learn how to better support and love each other - even when more than 2,600 miles apart. 

Since before we started dating, Jason's mother Sally had been bravely fighting metastatic breast cancer. (In fact our first date was nearly cancelled because of a health scare she had, but she felt better and threatened to lock Jason out of the house if he cancelled on Kristen.)  

Despite her incredible strength and wonderful medical care, Sally took a sudden turn for the worse in September 2021. When Jason called Kristen from the ER to let her know, she promptly told her surgery program she was leaving (unheard of in the very traditional / hierarchical world of surgery) and took the next (red-eye) flight across the country to be with Sally and Jason in the ICU, and him through her funeral. 

The months that followed were incredibly hard, grieving the loss of Sally while still both working killer schedules and being on opposite sides of the country. But, we made it work and helped get each other through. 

Recognizing we'd already weathered a world-pandemic, terminal illness followed by death of a parent, being long-distance, and more, yet still were in love, we decided to make things official. We got engaged in March 2022.