(or possibly, how #Elfquest changed my life)

(Warning, super geeky content ahead!)

It was 20 years ago today (give or take) that I met the man who would become my husband.

I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons since high school, though I would have loved to play earlier than that I didn’t have anyone to game with.  After college I had lost contact with my gaming group, so was in a period of not playing.  I had mentioned to a friend at work that I played, she was interested in learning how.  She was picking up her daughter from babysitting with a family member one day, and saw her cousin, newly home from the Marine Corps, there looking up D&D stuff on the computer.  They got to talking, he mentioned he was a DM and he’d be happy to run a game, and they set up a game session at her house.

I showed up, certainly not looking my best, ready for a game.  I was introduced to the DM, and took a seat.  I had a character ready, the others were just learning character creation and trying to come up with character names.  Trying to figure out a good name for a wild elf, I suggested natural names like “Nightfall” or “Redlance”, and over my shoulder I heard “or Cutter, or Skywise…” as the DM spoke.  I turned around, surprised, to really look at him.  Eyes met eyes, and the rest is history.  Seriously, not kidding, boom.

Which I guess might require some background.  I’ve been an Elfquest fan since I picked up the WaRP graphic novel #1 at the mall bookstore when I was 12 or so.  I can’t count how many times I read it.  It’s not often I would find someone else who’d ever heard of it, though to me it was a very big part of what made me become me.  Recognition, or “eyes meet eyes” is a part of the book’s elfin culture, the mingling of two souls that can happen in a glance and generally means very good things.

Ours is a geek love.  And a strong one.  Two years later we were married, and 20 years from meeting still here, still gaming, and still geeking.

Also?  today is the 20th anniversary of my character Red, i.e., Carnimïrié Rosin Rockhead: hard-drinking, foul-mouthed tattooed red-haired Wild Elf, Bladesinger, First of the Knights of Truth, and adopted daughter of legendary dwarven smith Uncle “Rocky” Rockhead. Having been converted from 2.5 Skills & Powers edition to D&D 3.0, to D&D 3.5, and now to Pathfinder as a 13th level Magus.