Happy anniversary Ben - the funcrunch files

Last summer I was singing in a Blue Bear workshop which rehearsed on Mondays from 6-8:30. Right after us, another band came in for the 8:30-11 rehearsal slot, so we saw each other for a few minutes in the transition. The sax player in that band, Ben, was a cute guy sporting long hair with an adorable skinny braid on each side; I couldn't help but notice him.

Ben and the 8:30 band's trombone player were recruited to provide a horn section on two songs for our group. Ben showed up for one of our final rehearsals, offsite without the teacher. I tried to chat him up a bit, but we were both too shy. Then the night of the performance, as I was going over a difficult song from my solo bass set one last time, Ben came up and watched me, grinning. He recognized that I was doing the song "Soda Shop" by Jay Brannan, from the movie Shortbus. As this was a somewhat obscure piece, I was surprised, and wanted to take the time to talk with him about it, but was too busy trying to get ready for my set. I later did get a chance to chat with him again just before our mainstage set, complimenting his hair with the tiny braids. Best and most I could do, considering I didn't know anything about his relationship status.



We performed together on the songs Hard to Handle and It's Your Thing. After the show I acquired his e-mail address for the ostensible purpose of sending him links to the photos and videos from the set. Once I had his name, I checked him out on Facebook and found the magical relationship status, "It's complicated". I took the risk to ask him out for coffee. Somehow he escalated this to a first date at a Perverts Put Out erotic reading.

That was one year ago. We've been together ever since. Happy anniversary my love!

P.S. I am quite the lucky woman this week as I have back-to-back anniversaries. Tomorrow I'll be writing about boyziggy as we celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. Hooray for open, trusting relationships!