Brad & Lisa first met many years ago through the theatre. Though at that time they were friendly acquaintances at best. Fast forward through the remainder of their twenties and a large part of their 30’s to late Spring of 2024. Lisa was back on the dating apps for the umpteenth time to put herself out there once again, as she was just finishing up performances for Heathers, and knew she’d finally have some free time to date over the summer. Brad was also back on the apps; and though neither of them was expecting what came next - maybe they should have been.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the dating app ‘Hinge,’ it has a feature called ‘most compatible.’ This feature will recommend a specific dating profile to you every few days, citing it as your ‘most compatible match.’ In order to view any other profiles on the app, you must either swipe left (rejecting) or right (accepting) on this particular profile, or wait until it re-sets on its own in a few days time. As you may have guessed by now, in May of 2024, Hinge recommended Lisa & Brad to each other as most compatible. However, this was not the first time this had happened.

Over the previous few years this had happened 2-3 other times (our memories are a little foggy on the details). However, Brad and Lisa had either laughed at, or ignored the suggestion. Up until now. This time felt different, and they both opted to swipe right. Brad sent the first message - a series of silly emojis. Lisa opted to get right to the point, stating that Hinge seemed to be pretty determined to connect them, and suggesting they grab a drink and see if there was actually anything ‘compatible’ between them.

So, over Memorial Weekend, they met up for that drink. Which turned into two as they enjoyed live music (a shared love) at the Redwood Room and got to know each other better. Bonding over many things - including a love of Old Fashioneds and a mutual childhood hatred of peas, they decided their connection was worthy of a second date. This led to a wonderful summer filled with many live music events, meeting each other’s friends and family, and building the foundation for a lasting relationship. They exchanged ‘I love you’s’ in October - nearly at the exact same moment, took their first trip together in December (a long weekend in Galena, IL at a possibly haunted BnB where it was unseasonably warm - highs in the 60’s!), performed an incredibly challenging 2-person show (Venus in Fur) together in February, and traveled to Cancun in April with some of Brad’s family - where he proposed.

On April 7th, after dinner with his family, Brad and Lisa went for a walk to watch the lightning storm over the ocean. As they were holding hands and gazing over the water at the beautiful show in the night sky, Brad began discussing their relationship. Lisa turned toward him to engage in the conversation, and in that moment, he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. A little in shock, the first words out of Lisa’s mouth were “Oh god, no, no,” followed quickly by “yes,’ and a lot of happy tears.

Since April we have merged our households and moved into a house in SW Rochester together (along with Brad’s son Felix, who we get to have every other week, and our 5 (yes, 5) cats). We also took a brief trip to Denver in July to see Incubus play at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and celebrated Lisa’s 40th birthday with a Housewarming Party in our new home. We’re both so grateful to you, our community, for all of your love and support. We can’t wait to enter this next chapter, and celebrate our love (past, present, and future) with all of you on New Year's Eve. See you soon!