Weddingbee

The story of how Mr. Cupcake and I met is a good one, so I thought I’d share it with Weddingbee readers to help you get to know us

On Friday, October 31, 2003, the last thing I wanted to do was go to a Halloween party. I had had a long day at work, fell asleep on the couch for a few hours, and woke up cranky (yes, I’m like a toddler — don’t expect me to be nice for the first hour after I’ve awoken from a nap!). I called Mama Cupcake and was complaining that I didn’t want to go to the two costume parties I had committed to, but she gave me a typical mom pep talk and told me that if I told my friends I’d be at their parties, then I really should go. Plus, I had another friend that was planning to come to the second party with me, and it would be rude to cancel on her. If we weren’t having fun, we could always make an early exit, but I had to at least show my face.

So, I got into my homemade Violet Beauregard costume (you know, the blueberry girl from Willy Wonka… but I was the cute version of her, pre-blueberry-blowup!), and went with my roommate (dressed as Veruca Salt) to her boyfriend’s party (he was — you guessed it! — a rather tall Oompa Loompa). I pepped up a little bit and was feeling better, so I started to look forward to party #2. I went home to meet up with my other friend, and we made our way to the second party that was just a few blocks away from my apartment in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Aside from the hostesses (one of whom I had worked with at my last job) and the friend I brought with me, I knew no one at this second party. I knew I had to make my own fun and strike up conversations with new people, which is sometimes hard for me, but on this particular night I turned into Little Miss Social. I had noticed my hostess friend’s beer pong partner (yes, there was beer pong — cut me some slack, we were 23!); I thought he was cute, but didn’t give too much thought to him at the time. I always get some laughs when I tell people what he was wearing: a mullet wig, bright orange Nascar hat, a beer logo t-shirt, pegged jeans, and work boots. That’s right, ladies — I was able to look past the costume and still somehow find this man attractive!

A little while into the party, I found myself standing next to this same party guest while waiting in line for the bathroom. I had seen another partygoer dressed as Garth from the SNL skit “Wayne’s World,” so I asked if he was supposed to be Garth’s best friend, Wayne. He misheard and thought I asked if he was “waiting.”

“Yes, I’m waiting,” he responded. (Probably thinking, why else would I be in line for the bathroom, genius?)

“No, are you WAYNE — from Wayne’s World?” I asked.

“Oh, no,” he said. “I’m just your basic white trash.”

And with that, the Cupcake romance began!

We crossed paths a little while later at the party, and after talking and laughing for quite a while, we decided to walk down to a local bar, Flatrock, to get drinks with some other people. After being impressed by my request for a Newcastle Brown Ale, Mr. Cupcake assured me that his mullet hairdo was just a wig, and we continued to talk the night away. I found out that he went to college with the hostesses of the party, and was visiting from out of town for the night.

At the end of the evening, Mr. Cupcake told me he would like to come down to take me out the next Friday night; we exchanged phone numbers, and I made my way home, text messaging him a goodnight message when I got home. Apparently not able to wait a whole week, he called me the following night to let me know he had decided to stay in town for the weekend, and we made plans to meet on Main Street in Manayunk the next day, Sunday. We sat outside of a local restaurant/bar, Thomas’, on a beautiful fall day, talking and laughing, before he drove me home on his way out of town. He promised to call me mid-week to talk about our date plans for the following weekend.

Mr. Cupcake stayed true to his word and called later in the week to finalize plans to go out the next Friday; our first “official” date was dinner at Le Bus in Manayunk, followed by another stop at Flatrock where Mr. Cupcake told me he couldn’t “do this every weekend” (meaning drive down to see me). But I guess he liked me enough that he changed his mind, because without prodding, he traveled four boring hours round trip on the Pennsylvania Turnpike almost every weekend to see me for the next two years, before he moved to be closer to me. Those first two years were sometimes difficult and frustrating, but it was a true test of our feelings for each other, and it taught us how much we really loved each other and how much we wanted to build a future together.

The moral of the story is: listen to your mother, and follow-through on plans you committed to even if you feel too tired to go. I sure am glad I went to that Halloween party!!!!

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