Why this Blog?

I hate writing. I almost flunked freshman composition in college. Journals always seem vaguely masturbatory and writing stuff down is so limiting- no inflections, no gestures.

So why this? Because I wanted to record my most recent journey, to do SCA heavy weapon combat.

The journey began some 18 years ago, when I began in the SCA. I lived in a house with several friends, each one was a fighter. Of course they said I should be one as well. For every reason they said I should fight, I had a reason not. Finally after insisting I was a pacifist, they let me be.

I'm still not sure why I resisted. I loved fighting. I could listen endlessly to discussions on armor, combat styles, training methods, and I especially adored the "No sh*t, there I was" stories.

I continued in the SCA, drifted away from my first influential friends, and found my life partner. Tosten had no interest in fighting, so fighting drifted even further from my mind. As a team, we grew even more involved in the Society than we were solo, and did many things, some quite political, then after several difficult years, quit playing.

We got rid of all our stuff, camping gear, equipment, nearly everything except a few pieces of garb. We "outgrew" the SCA, so why keep the stuff? Tosten still loved to dance, so he still went to one event every year. This year, out of curiosity, I went along. It was wonderful to see old friends. One suggested to Tosten, that he should take up fighting. When he agreed, I literally fell out of my chair. As a man of intellect and a connoisseur of the arts, he had never spoken of fighting, ever.

Both of us have been overweight and non-athletic our whole lives. Recently, we had both dropped alot of weight, and become physically active for the first time. Tosten saw SCA combat as another sport to master, like the triathalons he completed this year. I was simply thrilled that he was interested in fighting, and that we were going to "play" in the SCA again.

We went a week to the Lilies War. We shopped for armor, me asking all the questions, and telling Tosten the names of the equipment. We were very fortunate to stay in the pavillion of a dear friend. Our host, a knight of Calontir, along with our host's squires and friends began Tosten's instruction.

My path formed there, at Lilies.

The first step happened when I watched the battlefields of Calontir. There were many, many female fighters. Good fighters. The Calontir army had a place for everyone, no matter the skill or ability.

The other step happened when Sir Lars handed me a rattan sword and told me to hit his sword. I swung and hit his sword with a thorough "crack"- He said, "That is a killing blow." I thought, "Whoa, is it this easy?" I didn't feel like that my swing was powerful enough to be effective.

I swung several more times, the sword feeling ackward and weak. I told him, I really felt like using both hands. He said, give it a try.

Thats when the path appeared. I put one hand below the other on the hilt, lifted the sword upright, and my body just fell into stance. Suddenly, I knew I had not only the power to fight, I knew I could fight.