It's August 2020. Watermelon Sugar is stuck in your head, Hamilton just started streaming on Disney +, and Caroline is trying to finish her master's degree in nursing. After a challenging year of training in a medical field plagued by a pandemic, her nursing school friends offered her a much needed hand in her dating life. They picked up her phone and started swiping on the dating app Bumble when they came across Matthew. Caroline thought he was cute but didn't want to make the first move, so her friends took the initiative to ask him out.

Bumble only gives you 24 hours to respond before the app deletes your match. Matthew waited...23 hours and 52 minutes much to the delight of Caroline who is notoriously patient and relaxed.

Matt is the yellow!

We had our first date at a Boston brewery that had just reopened. We walked to our outdoor table with masks on and ordered from separate QR codes on our phones. Afterwards, we walked along Pier 4 talking until dark, looking out over the ICA and Boston Harbor. Because of the pandemic restrictions, Caroline ended the date not with a kiss, but by breaking into a Shake Shack bathroom urgently before a long drive back to the suburbs. She assumed Matthew found this more endearing than alarming. After a nearly three hour date, neither of us could stop smiling.

During nearly two years of pandemic restrictions, we spent our early relationship playing Jeopardy, watching corny TV shows, and laughing a lot. In a time full of uncertainty, we told each other that our relationship was the only good thing about 2020.

As the world came back to life, we were able to enjoy our shared love for travel, fancy restaurants, and exploring Boston. We also still played a lot of Jeopardy.

On June 22, 2024, Matthew brought Caroline to Woods Hill Pier 4 (our venue!) for a regularly scheduled Saturday date night. He proposed on the same pier where we had talked until dark after our first date. Surrounded by family and full of love, we got our happily ever after.