Heartbreaking but...

Nothing like a good origin story. Also, 7 other things worth knowing today.

A few years ago, a soldier named Brian Elliott got his heart broken.

It was right around Valentine’s Day 2019. He was 27, just back from Afghanistan—his third deployment; second one involving actual combat.

He had a girlfriend back home. Now, he planned to ask the Big Question.

So, he did what he thought you were supposed to do. He got in his car, and he headed up the road from Fort Benning in Georgia, to the Kay Jewelers in the Peachtree Mall.

But … nothing seemed right about the experience.

Not the idea of being alone in a depressing shopping mall, not the old man trying to upsell him on whatever ring he chose, not the overpowering smell of the Auntie Anne’s pretzels wafting into the store.

“You start to say, like, What am I doing right now?” Brian told me when we talked recently. “This is supposed to be one of the most intimate, emotional, lifelong purchases you’ll make. And I’m next to a pretzel shop.”

In the end, he bought the ring. But the girl said no.

It’s OK, he told me: sometimes …