In December 2020, Isabel Dixon Klee was walking her dog, Simon, when she stopped to photograph the sunset at María Hernandez Park in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Unknowingly, there was a runner at the bottom of the frame: It was Jacob David Zerhusen, whom she would match with on Hinge two weeks later.
“That became a bit of a theme in our relationship,” she said. “He’s always been running toward me.”
When they matched on the dating app, both were living in Bushwick, Brooklyn. “It started as a relationship of convenience,” Klee said. “We both wanted to date someone who lived nearby, and then we accidentally fell in love.”
After connecting, they had virtual dates over FaceTime because of the pandemic, and spoke every day for about a month before meeting in person on Jan. 7, 2021. For their first date, Zerhusen invited Klee to his apartment and insisted she bring Simon. “I knew he was such a big part of her life,” he said, “and I had to win him over just as much as her.”
He prepared two charcuterie boards for their date: one for Klee and a dog-friendly one for Simon. For hours, Klee and Zerhusen discovered how much they had in common, including having the same college majors and working as camp counselors in their late teens and early 20s.
Two weeks after meeting, Zerhusen told Klee he loved her. “We both knew very early on it was something serious,” she said.
Klee, 33, a writer, is the author of the best-selling book “Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About” and a content creator. Her social media account for Simon, @simonsits, has nearly 2.3 million followers across Instagram and TikTok. She was born in South Orange, N.J., and received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Marymount Manhattan College.
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Zerhusen, 33, is a customer success manager in the New York office of Harvey, a San Francisco-based domain-specific technology company for legal and professional services. He grew up in Burlington, Ky., and received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Northern Kentucky University.
“I loved Simon immediately and felt very parental toward him,” Zerhusen said. Simon had struggled with health issues, specifically epilepsy, throughout his life.
“I adopted him when I was 25 years old and broke, and he had his first seizure four weeks after,” Klee said. “His medical bills were extremely expensive over the years.”
Six months into their relationship, Zerhusen offered to split Simon’s medical bills with her. “I would say to him, ‘This isn’t your problem. This is my dog, and it’s really expensive,’” Klee said. “He said, ‘I really want to feel like I’m in this with you. I want to feel like this is our dog.’”
In April 2023, they moved to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where they currently reside. It was the first time they had a backyard, and Simon’s health was getting better, so they decided to start fostering dogs. Over three years, they fostered 31 together.
On Nov. 3, 2024, Zerhusen ran the New York City Marathon. After crossing the finish line, he ran toward Klee, and then they walked through Central Park together, where he proposed with a round diamond engagement ring.
Two months before the wedding, Simon’s health declined rapidly. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer, which was worsening his epilepsy, and by late July his seizures had become increasingly severe. “We kept saying, ‘Let’s just wait one more day,’ holding out hope there was a good week or month left in him,” Zerhusen said. “It never came.” Simon died on July 25.
On Sept. 19, the couple married at Forest Lake Camp in Chestertown, N.Y. Klee’s best friend, Megan Amsterdam, who was previously ordained by the Universal Life Church, officiated the ceremony before 110 guests and 12 dogs.
The dog-friendly wedding’s theme was called Camp Simon, a nod to the couple’s shared history as camp counselors. “It was going to be that if he was alive,” Klee said. “Now it’s more of in memoriam, but he’s in everything we do, and always will be,” Zerhusen added.
Klee walked down the aisle with her parents, Clare and Ken Klee, carrying a bouquet with Simon’s name tag attached. Zerhusen walked with his mother, Janie Sandeen.
The night ended with everyone dancing to the hit song by Florence + the Machine, “Dog Days Are Over.”
The post Her Famous Dog Helped Them Meet. They Went on to Foster 31 More. appeared first on New York Times.
