Suleika Jaouad

He always brings up the Birkenstocks because he was like, I was from Louisiana, and I had never seen Birkenstocks before.

But I think there was a flash of recognition between us, even though we weren't close at this camp, where I thought—

This is a fellow misfit.

We're not necessarily misfits in the same way.

But I just found him extraordinary.

And fast forward three years, we reconnected at Juilliard.

And I had this very strange moment before I even realized he was also at Juilliard of being on the one train with my friend Michelle.

And noticing a young man who was drawing a lot of attention because he had his headphones on and he was singing to himself and playing air piano.

And people were staring at him and we were staring at him.

And I suddenly turned to Michelle and I said, oh, I know that guy.

That's John Batiste from Bandcamp.

And then out of nowhere, I blurted out, that's the man I'm going to marry.

No idea why I said it.

Didn't give it another thought.

And then, you know, realized he was also at Juilliard.

So he's someone we've orbited in and out of each other's lives for so long.

And it wasn't until, you know, a decade later that we actually started dating.

Oh, this is a point of heated debate.

I would say him in a sense.

But he was so awkward once something more than friendship became on the table that it was almost like we were on a blind date and hadn't known each other for 13 years at that point.