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9.2.99
Of Course, M'Lady


I went to the New York Renaissance Faire last weekend with my girlfriend.

OK, so I should have told her ahead of time that I had been to Renaissance Faires before. I should have told her that I own a sword. I should have told her that I think speaking in "Thou"s and "Thee"s is fun for a day. And I certainly should have told her that I was planning on dressing up for the occasion.

In truth, I find it as amusing as the next guy. It is not my life; it is not my passion. It is, however, a lot of fun to escape reality (especially the New York City reality) for a day, drive out to the country, and play Medieval for a while. The weather was gorgeous and the mood caught me. The jousting, human chess board, the turkey drumsticks, the wandering minstrels... it is all just a lot of fun. And once I noticed that my gal was starting to wonder if I was a true Renaissance junkie, I may have played it up a little to see how far I could push.

So she got a little freaked out.

I think the main reason for her jitters was not specifically that I really enjoyed the Renaissance Faire, but that there are still some things about me that she doesn't know. We have known each other for over 10 years and have been together on and off for as long. Now we have gotten serious and are talking life commitment, and I hit her with a big whopper like this.

Now, don't get me wrong...she liked the faire too. In fact, she won an axe throwing competition (I am not kidding) beating me and 2 other guys at sinking hatches into a wood target twelve feet away. Pretty fucking impressive really. She just saw the whole thing from the outside in and felt I was maybe a little closer to the inside than she had though.

In the end, we came to terms. I stopped pretending that I believed I was a knight in a past life, and she bought and wore a Maid Marion headdress and veil and really got into the spirit of things.

I guess the moral of the story is, keep an open mind and try to have fun...maybe you'll find something out about yourself that will surprise you. I think we both did last weekend.


Thoughts?