A mutual friend introduced Todd Murdock and David Smith to each other during an Eric Jaffe show at Tavern on Camac. Prior to this meeting, the two had only met in passing.
“You know that one random person on Facebook you see you have way too many mutual friends with and you’re like, ‘How do I not know you?’” said Smith, 32, with a laugh. “That’s kind of what this started as.”
“I think we both went to Tavern alone and we left together,” said Murdock, 28. “Then we spent the rest of the night together, met up with friends and the rest was history.”
Since that day in May 2016, one of the most defining moments came when Murdock met Smith’s 14-year-old son, Brendan, who lives in Pittsburgh. Smith said Brendan had never met anyone he dated before, and he trusts Murdock to be in his son’s life.
“Whoever I bring into my life permanently, I want them to be there and not ever leave for stability for [Brendan],” Smith said. “[Murdock] met [Brendan] for the first time in April for his birthday and it was absolutely certain to me at that point that this is the person I need to spend the rest of my life with because look how he interacts with my son. He was instantly in step-dad mode. It was just perfect.”
Murdock is the youngest of five children and noted he did not have any experience in a step-parent role. He was happy that Brendan took a liking to him and said he now receives the occasional Snapchat from Smith’s son.
“Being able to build a relationship with somebody so important to him and somebody that he brought into this world is truly incredible because he’s such an energetic, creative, very open-minded 14-year-old,” Murdock said. “It was just a remarkable experience to be able to talk to him about stuff and hear the things he was going through. To think that I would be able to bestow wisdom on a teenager was a really cool experience in that he respects me the way that he does and the way that he looks up to both of us.”
Murdock took an extra stride toward “step-dad mode” when he proposed to Smith July 26. Smith previously said one of his favorite nights with Murdock was when they saw “Mamma Mia!” which inspired Murdock to take Smith to that same theater, the Academy of Music, to see “Wicked.” On May 20, their one-year anniversary, Murdock gave Smith the tickets with plans to propose two months later.
“There was just something about it that felt like the perfect timing,” Murdock said. “For us, we aren’t in a rush to jump to get married but it was the next step in our life planning. It felt like the appropriate time for me and clearly for him as well.”
Murdock pulled Smith into the middle of Broad Street and proposed. Smith said he was slow to react at first and joked that he thought Murdock was going to break up with him after seeing him get emotional in the street.
“I had no idea what was going on,” Smith said. “Until he got down on one knee, it didn’t actually click. I was just like, ‘Oh my God. Wait a minute. I know what this means.’ Then I look around and our entire friend group was across the street and everybody was on Facetime and everybody was watching. It was emotionally one of the most fulfilling moments of my life.”
The couple tentatively scheduled their wedding for October 2019.
Murdock recalled the moment when they first said “I love you,” when Smith referenced Greek mythology.
“[Smith] told me a story about Zeus,” Murdock said. “When man was created, he felt that man was too powerful when they had four legs, four arms, two heads and they were united as one so he split them in half and that when those two halves find each other [and] that when they’re together, it’s God-like. There’s something about that statement that struck me to the core about the power of what love feels like.
“Every single day has become a day that I wanted to repeat over and over. I can’t remember a time without him,” he added. “I don’t ever want to have that again in my life.”