- How did you two meet? - In 2016 we had a close "almost-meeting", where I was an attendee at a joint going away party in San Francisco's Dolores Park. Somehow, I managed to meet all of her friends, make it into the background of her then-profile picture, but not meet her. We did meet in August 2018 at that year's Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, NV. We were both in the same camp, brought together by some of the same folks who were at Dolores park two years prior. I was instantly transfixed. Whenever she was away from the camp, I would make the rounds with her friends, "I'm in love with Yves; tell her." She had a boyfriend at the time, so all my attempts were rebuked, but I never lost conviction. - Tell us about your first date! - Fast forward a few months. It's mid-October and I'm in a car headed for SFO, where I will catch a flight to visit Yves and her two friends in Chicago to celebrate Yves' birthday. To my knowledge, she still had a boyfriend, but I was obsessed to the point that I would have settled for just being friends with her and her partner if it meant spending more time with her. As soon as I get in the car, my friend hit me with a, "Guess what?" I swear I had an experience of premonition, and more or less knew the answer,"Yves and her boyfriend split up." I have a tendency to be verbose, and I was left silent. We had a great, mostly platonic weekend. Before leaving I confessed my attraction to her in much more direct way than I had at Burning Man. It was reciprocated and from there things started to blossom. - How long have you two been together? - Officially, almost 3 years. I asked if I could start introducing her as my partner in August 2019. - What are some highlights of your relationship? (Special trips, moments, memories, dates, etc) - Burning Man is a special place for us. As is San Francisco - this where we both blossomed as adults, and where we made the friends that brought us together. In May 2019 we took a very special trip to Mykonos, Greece. I actually crashed her best friend's wedding, flying in from India by way of South Africa dressed like a full on 70s era spiritual seeker. In Greece we realized that this wasn't a fantasy, that it was real, and that really we didn't have any choice but to give this our best shot. During the pandemic we also had an awesome experiment with nomad-living that was also our first time cohabitating. We traveled / worked through Portland, Boise, New Orleans, Miami and Mexico before settling down in NYC where we live now. - When and how did you propose? - I proposed on Labor Day 2021 in Dolores Park, SF, the place where we almost met but didn't quite meet in 2016. Burning Man also happens around Labor Day weekend, so the timing was intentional. We had been to the park a few days prior, so I made up a bit of a story about how I wanted to have a date-night at Cha-Cha-Cha a Santeria-themed Caribbean restaurant in the area, for this very specific creamy shrimp dish. (Yves "witchy" and half-Cuban, and so this all clicked in my mind - plus I really really wanted the dish). When we got to the park, I was coordinating with a photographer to find a decent spot to get on one knee. When we found the right spot, she sat down first so I had to ask her to stand back up. When I did, she started suspecting that something was up. - Was it a surprise? What was the reaction to the ring? - As soon as I pulled the ring out, she started crying, and a few hundred people started to cheer in rolling, rounds of applause. We even ended up knowing someone in the crowd! I got down on one knee and gave her the context on the timing and location, and actually forgot to say, "will you marry me?". She let me know over shrimp and sangria later, and I made sure to seal the deal. I had worked with her friends and her sister to get the exact ring she wanted without involvement from her, so everything went off without a hitch. It was perfect.