Our Story
Co-workers to Quarantined to “Can’t wait to marry you.”
We met outside Denver, Colorado in a town called Littleton. At the time we were both working for the same construction tech start-up. Both of us were part of a cross-functional M&A integration team that was tasked with integrating our latest acquisition, which was headquartered out of Littleton.
Initial interest turned into finding reasons to overlap at work, which turned into regular zoom calls about work, and then evolved into spending time together not about work.
At the time Jerod was living in California and Emily was living in Seattle; however, the company kept them traveling often, so it was easy to find ourselves in the same place at the same time.
Fast forward to March of 2020—we were on a weekend trip to Palm Springs. The news was full of stories about a mysterious new virus that seemed to be centered in Kirkland, WA. Despite only having packed a suitcase for a weekend trip in the desert, Emily decided that she'd wait to head back to Seattle until this weird virus thing settled down.
A few days later, California closed the airports.
We spent the next 3 months sharing an open plan 2 bedroom apartment, both of us working from home, and Emily living out of a suitcase only packed for a 3 day vacay.
For us, like the rest of the world, COVID brought highs, lows, existential anxiety, and boredom. We watched Tiger King, bought an air fryer, and experimented in the kitchen.
And, like many other “COVID couples,” by June, when Emily boarded a plane to Seattle from an eerily empty LAX, it was to get rid of her place, pack up her stuff, and make the move back to California.
A few years, 3 rental homes, 2 horses, and 2 dogs later we got engaged—and after Kellen graduated from high school, we made the move back to the Pacific Northwest.
What happens next?
We can’t say for sure—other than that we’ll be in it together.