How We Met
With a name like D’artagnan, it is no surprise that our first meeting was memorable. We met at a daytime rooftop costume party in NYC. The theme was Gods of India. He was dressed as a Hare Krishna, I was wearing an outfit I had put together at a thrift store. As is the case in many New York parties, chairs were all taken. He offered my friend and I, his seat when he went to the bathroom in exchange for watching his bag. He didn’t come back for over 20 minutes. After my friend left, I was alone watching the bag, feeling both guilty abandoning a stranger’s belongings and angry at this guy for not coming back.
He did eventually reappear, and apologized profusely and bought me a beer. I couldn’t believe he was really named D’artagnan, but as I came to learn over the course of our conversations, he has a unique and memorable personality (and fashion sense) to match the name. I should have known that this motorcycle-driving, bow-tie wearing, charismatic man would become my partner in crime, and we would become that couple that throws costume parties and enjoys a little dramatic flair- just like my musketeer.
How They Asked
First and foremost, I am a difficult person to surprise. D’artagnan made a decision to not tell anyone except my best friend, including the friends who were with us. He decided to surprise me on New Year’s Eve in our new home city: Philadelphia. We had been long distance for a couple of years, and he just moved to Philly in September. Unfortunately, I shifted our New Years’ plans a few times, and he suggested if we were not going to see the fireworks at midnight we could catch the 6 pm show they do for families. A close friend of ours, Brit, decided to drive down from NY with a friend. We were running late, and he feigned not wanting to go at the last minute. When we got there he found a spot with a perfect view in front of a large crowd of people. He asked our friend to take a video- I was super confused, then he got down on one knee with the fireworks going off in the background and everyone started screaming and cheering. We were all so surprised. With his cowboy hat and the fireworks and the crowd watching, it was appropriately dramatic and beautiful and absolutely perfect for us.
