…or at least felt like it in October 2020. She was in the bustling metropolis of Worcester, Massachusetts wondering what the hell she was doing there. He was alone in Oakland with a pair of two year olds as his only steady human contact. Distance was supposed to keep them from ever meeting. But in a twist for the ages, they cheated fate when she decided to go perusing for dates across the country via revolutionary matchmaking technology manifested in the dating app, Hinge.

After six months of cross-country FaceTimes, love letters, surprise deliveries and a couple of vaccines, they took the leap and met up for the first time for a week in Miami. During that week, the sparks that had flown across the screen were confirmed to be even stronger in person, as they danced across Miami's Little Havana district, explored the Everglades swamp and frolicked together at the beach. During their last evening (and admittedly caught up in the moment during a sunset cruise), Joe told Myra he would be willing to move to Chicago to be with her while she started grad school that fall. And the rest, as you know, is history.