When Delanie Joy Linden first saw Zachary Florentino Murguía Burton, he was lost.
It was November 2021 in Cambridge, Mass. They had connected on Hinge, and he was picking her up at M.I.T., where she is a doctoral candidate in art history, for their first date — except he couldn’t find her dorm.
“He just had a joyous smile. And that was my first glimpse of him,” Ms. Linden said, impressed by the fact that he was lost but still smiling.
They went to a nearby bar, where Dr. Burton ordered a “foie gras-infused” cocktail, which struck Ms. Linden as a funny and charming choice. He had been late for the date, and explained that he was delayed because a family member had called him for help in a mental health crisis.
That gave way to a deeper conversation, and they found themselves opening up about their personal experiences with mental health. She worked as a mental health liaison for students as part of her role as a graduate resident adviser. He had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2017 and done mental health advocacy work, including creating a play about mental health called “The Manic Monologues.”
[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]
“I didn’t plan on opening up about those kinds of things the very first date,” Dr. Burton said. He laughed and added: “Maybe the third or fourth.”
They also bonded over “being nerdy people in academia,” said Dr. Burton, who is an assistant professor of earth sciences at Montana State University and goes by Zack.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.play777