Mark and Katharine accidentally met on Tinder in July 2015. They both swiped right and chatted for a week.
One night they were both out at different bars in Boston, when Mark texted Katharine asking if she'd like to meet up. After her friends cautioned her against it, she hopped on the T and met Mark at Dillon's on Boylston Street at 12:30 a.m.
They immediately hit it off and when the bar closed at 2 a.m. Katharine asked Mark if he'd like to keep walking around Boston's Back Bay. They slowly made their way over to Public Garden. Not that it's any surprise to anyone who knows Katharine and Mark but they couldn't stop talking.
They then ended up on 'their bench' and laughed for hours.
They walked circles around Public Garden when all of a sudden the sun was coming up--they stayed out all night in the park.
Sadly, Mark left Boston the next week, they had three more dates. They lost touch for the next year and a half. It was at that time Katharine went to a Red Sox game to celebrate getting her first TV job on Cape Cod. Mark saw her snapchat story and reached out--from then they still haven't stopped talking once again.
The day after Katharine and Mark reconnected Katharine moved to Chatham, Mass. on the elbow of Cape Cod to start her career as a journalist while Mark was working and living in Albany. Little did Mark and Katharine know this was the closest (4 hours away) they'd live for the next nearly 4 years.
Once Mark started law school Katharine would make the 5.5 hour trek nearly every weekend down to Long Island where Mark was at Hofstra Universtiy Law School. When Mark wasn't studying they were able to explore the city and see so many of their friends who live in NYC including Mark's brother Ian.
But then Katharine got the opportunity to move halfway across the country to Duluth, Minnesota. This is when "long distance" truly became a reality while they were a 20 hour drive from each other.
They saw each other every few months, but continued to talk all day long and even had a knack for syncing up their Netflix so they could still watch their favorite shows together.
Once the pandemic hit, their plans to see each other changed completely. But after 5.5 months, Mark drove across the country to stay with Katharine in Duluth for a month. The longest they'd ever spent together in a row--but it was nothing short of perfect.
This is why when Katharine had the opportunity to move closer to Mark to Burlington, Vermont she jumped at the chance to work in TV in Vermont. Mark moved up to the Green Mountain State the very first day she was there--and they've been there ever since. Mark ended up finishing law school remotely and took the bar exam in Vermont.
They are very much looking forward to wherever life takes them in the future. Including a very special November 3rd with their family and friends.