Last year, Flickr user Ron Berlin posted a bunch of pics from Folsom Europe (the event took place in Berlin in September), and I totally missed them! I only found out about them when he posted one of Dirk on my Facebook page recently. I hope he doesn’t mind that I’m sharing his really amazing photos of my sexy hubby!
The red shirt Dirk’s wearing has a fun story behind it. Way back in 2013 when Dirk and I were in San Francisco for the U.S. version of the Folsom Street Fair — and to film the Grabby-nominated TitanMen feature In the Shadows, which we’re both in — we stopped by Mr. S Leather to do some shopping. There was a certain red leather shirt that had been sitting on the rack for months; it was a custom job that someone decided they didn’t want. Dirk had been eying it for a while, but was balking at the somewhat hefty price tag (it was made from high-quality leather after all). But I got him to try it on and my jaw dropped (I took this picture at the time):

And Dirk said, “Yeahhh… I shouldn’t have done that.” I could tell that he definitely wanted it… but he was hesitating because of the price. I knew he had to have it, though. Christmas was coming up, after all, and even though the price was a little steep, it was certainly fair. So as soon as we left the store (and unbeknownst to Dirk), I texted our friend Doug who works at Mr. S and had seen Dirk try it on:
Heya Doug… so the red leather uniform shirt that Dirk just tried on… how much was it again? I want to get it for him for Christmas. I can’t come back in the store this trip (leaving for home in a few hours) so I’d need you guys to need to ship it to Boston. Would that work? Thanks…
Doug wrote back and took it off the rack to ship to me back home. I flew home later that day, but Dirk was staying in San Francisco for a few days to hang out with friends. As it turns out, he went back to Mr. S a couple of days later to buy it… and, of course, the shirt was gone. “You’ll never believe it, but somebody bought the red shirt!” he texted me. “Sigh… I guess it wasn’t meant to be.” I played dumb, noting that it had been a really a beautiful shirt and was bound to sell eventually.
Fast forward two months. It was the beginning of December, and Dirk and I were figuring out what to wear to the annual Toys for Joys fundraiser we attend. “Dammit,” he said, “I really wish I’d bought that red shirt!” I smiled. I’d been waiting to give it to him until Christmas, but the timing was just too perfect. “You mean this one?” I said, pulling the shirt out of my closet, where it had been hiding inside a garment bag. And then it was Dirk’s jaw’s turn to drop.
He wore it to that year’s Toys for Joys event (see the first picture below), and he brings it with him to pretty much all the leather events he attends all over the world… including Folsom Europe. I know I’m biased, but I think he looks fantastic in it… don’t you? 
