VicTim: An Oral History

Tim: I was living in my parent's basement, working at Blockbuster when I somehow talked my childhood friends Dale and Matt to move to the middle of nowhere Bushwick and start a band with Fraser. We pulled up to 345 Eldert and parked next to a car on cinderblocks, burnt to a crisp, across from a junkyard. It wasn’t much, but the price was right and we had tons of room to fit a bunch of 19-year-old dudes and build a recording studio.

Victoria: It's a tale as old as time. We met at a loft party in Bushwick. I walked through the doors of the infamous "the loft", and instantly crashed into a sea of people. I remember a little Boston terrier running through the crowd, who was followed by a white and brindle pitbull-- had I known, that pitbull would be Gunther, and would become the love of my life... Oh, wait! This is supposed to be about meeting Tim-- lol.

Tim: The Loft resembled more of a treefort than an apartment, and over the years friends like Chris, Jason, Amanda, Jeremy, and Ryan became family and called our little shanty town home. Every year we’d throw a huge party called triple birthday and in 2008 Vicky arrived…

Victoria: Okay, reset the scene-- I walk through the door, there's a million people, as I make my way through the crowded entrance I walk by a very tall dude, wearing a green t-shirt. He's kinda cute!

Tim: I remember seeing her enter the loft from across the room, in my memory it’s like things shift to slow motion, like somehow she had a spotlight on her as silhouetted revelers danced in front, blocking her from my view. When I managed to catch a glimpse, I distinctly remember thinking, damn she cute!

Victoria: The rest of the night plays out and we're playing music in the homespun sound room that takes up 1/4 of the loft. The guy in the green shirt is a drummer, and as he's trying to play, I pick up the mic and start singing and apparently "bossing" him around. He finds me very annoying.

Tim: And just like that I was snapped out of the slow-motion moment by the sound of her shouting at her friends and being the life of the party. As was typical, the night ended with a bit of a, “jam sesh” if you will, with everyone cramming into the sweaty sound room and picking up an instrument. I recall receiving some creative direction from Victoria that she delivered while rolling around on the ground with a microphone.

Victoria: Fast forward a couple of weeks, Dale and I are starting our band "Mama Bear", and we decide to recruit some of his friends/roommates to help us play full band. Tim is corralled into being our drummer. After a few more weeks of not making eye contact and sort of refusing to acknowledge me, we went to Union Pool as a large group after band practice and Tim finally caved and we talked!

Tim: Apparently I ignored her when we first met and yeah maybe I sat across from her at Dallas BBQ and barely said a word, but the truth is I was scared. She seemed out of my league and I didn’t wanna mess it up. I was in the middle of renovating my room at the loft when she started playing music with Dale. I showed her the flooring that I had just installed, I was trying to be an adult, thought it was cool…

Victoria: As soon as we started to talk I was completely drawn to Tim and knew that I wanted to spend all my time with him. That first summer we hung out was like a fever dream. Lots of beach days at the Rockaways, making and eating deviled eggs on the rooftop in the direct sun (lol, ew), and playing in a band together. It was a perfect NYC summertime romance.

Tim: At this point, we’re in a band together and one night after band practice we head out to a bar. For some reason, on the subway I found myself reading her journal. Yes, an invasion of privacy but if it’s not already clear, I have no game. Maybe I thought it was a good way to get to know her? I guess it worked, cuz by the end of the night we were pretty cozy.

Victoria: Eventually that summertime romance blossomed into a forever thing. Throughout the years we hosted several parties (Super Bowl being our favorite), shared the best dog (subjective) on earth, and traveled and ate our way around the world too. We chased the northern lights in Iceland (failed), went to my homeland of Laos, and spent time in Europe (where we got engaged!). Moving to Portland was also a big feat, and although it wasn’t easy with Covid, I do think it brought us closer together. Losing our best buddy, Gunther was a devastating time, but going through it together is something that I’m thankful for.

Tim: I forget the occasion but someone had gifted her a bottle of wine. On the way home, in an attempt at chivalry, I offered to carry the wine and promptly dropped it, shattering it on the sidewalk. I offered to make her dinner. Roasted salmon with asparagus and ice cream sandwiches. Weird combo, but ok.

Victoria: This year will be our 15-year anniversary, and I am so happy to mark this year as our wedding year too. And as much as I want to live in the present, I’m excited to see what the next 15 years will bring us!

Tim: Next time I saw her at band practice she greeted me by telling me she had unfinished business with me… Turns out that meant becoming the best dog mom I could ever ask for, getting our own apartment (where I built a much nicer loft), eating A LOT of food, and traveling the world together.

Those travels included Japan and Cambodia to see our friends, Craig and Alexis, a cross-country move to Portland to be closer to her lovely family, and finally a trip to France to celebrate Kelsey and Quentin’s nuptials.

But now I had unfinished business with her… after a beautiful drive through Provence, we arrived in Cassis on the southern coast of France. While watching the moonlight over the Mediterranean, I noted how cool this was and asked if she wanted to do cool stuff like this forever, like forever. To which she replied, duh of course! So I asked her to marry me.

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