2020-2021 was an unpredictable and unprecedented year. When Covid first hit the world, Lauren moved back to Houston from LA to visit her family. Although she didn’t like online dating, her family convinced her to join. She saw a handsome guy, noticed he was also a physician, and that they had things in common. So, of course she was interested. Sam and Lauren met for the first time at a coffee shop before they went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. After messaging back and forth with Sam for a couple months, she had planned to meet up again in Galveston.

But she suddenly developed appendicitis, and needed to be rushed to the emergency room for surgery. Afterwards, she was able to text Sam and tell him the bad news. However, it just so happened that the hospital Lauren was rushed to, was Sam’s resident institution. No visitors were allowed because of Covid, so Sam put his scrubs on and went to visit Lauren in the hospital. Although she was recovering, in pain and had no makeup on, he was still nervous! He also reviewed scans with the other residents to make sure she was in good hands. He stayed by her side, especially when she was recovering at the beach house. He helped her walk around the house for exercise, and helped her get up off the couch. He started coming over to the beach house everyday with little gifts, flowers and Starbucks.

Immediately after, the infamous 2021 winter storm hit Texas. Lauren and her mother were stranded at the beach house in freezing weather unable to find food, water, or a warm shower. But then Sam came to the rescue. He helped them find a hotel room, get buckets of water from the hotel pool to flush the toilet, find drinking water (which was hard to find), scavenge for food and much more. It was an experience that brought them closer together and by the end of the storm, Lauren and Sam knew they had found the one.