We met in the heart of the pandemic, late 2020. Like all modern day soul searchers, we met through an online dating app, Hinge. Jay’s profile shared that he loved cats; David’s cat call initial message grabbed Jay’s attention: “meow”.

We shared several phone calls and Zoom dates first. Jay had recently moved to the Bay Area to start a new job and David, already in the area, was enjoying life freelancing in tech consulting and woodworking. Our first “real” date was a hike to Mount Tamalpais, though our first meeting was over pizza and wine and the delivery of some furniture that Jay had ordered online for temporary delivery to David’s home while Jay was out of town.

Mount Tam is a place that we had both had hiked previously on our own but now a place that is near and dear to our hearts as a couple, as in addition to our first date, it was the location of our proposal and our engagement photos. But that’s getting ahead of the story…

We had an immediate connection, and our time together was aided by the limited social circles afforded by the pandemic - thanks, COVID. As David & Jay spent more time together at David’s house, Jay’s adorable but dumb-as-rocks cat Bean had a tough time adjusting to the commute. Seeing an opportunity, David invited Bean to share the home in South San Francisco; Jay followed soon after.

David & Jay both love an adventure, and shortly after moving in together, they booked a trip to Italy for late 2021. International travel can be both a joy and a crucible, but as they planned the itinerary, and later, actually experienced the trip, they realized that they were compatible in that way as well.

By early 2022, both David & Jay felt the relationship progressing; David’s response was to secretly start planning a proposal for March. To David’s alarm, Jay’s response was to start scheming with his colleagues and bring it up in conversation with David in February, while David’s secret plans were formed, but not yet ready to execute. David abruptly shut that conversation down so as to not preempt the brewing surprise.

March 13, 2022, David & Jay went for a casual hike along Mt. Tam, retracing much of the same hike as that first date. After the hike, they enjoyed a drink at a small inn at the bottom of the trail, Mountain Home Inn; David had arranged for the innkeeper to casually offer to show us one of the rooms for a potential “future” visit… but he had also arranged for a bouquet, a bottle of wine, and an engagement sculpture to be placed in the room.

Jay’s eyes immediately gravitated to the sculpture: “Wow, we need to find this artist! He included cacti, cats, SF landmarks, all the stuff I love.” David got down on his knees, proposed, and as they say, the rest is history.