M.S.Tarot

A few decades back, never mind how many, I had the good luck meet a few people that have been friends of mine ever since.

One of them, now sadly departed, showed me photo albums with pictures of himself in armor. He and his friends had been members of a historic recreation group called the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism.) Interested, I went to a local event.

I met my wife not long after that and discovered that she and I had stood within ten feet of each other at that very event. We even heard the same joke. Years later I found out that she had even taken a picture of me that day.

Luck, fate, or perhaps divine guidance from Pasta on High - I don't know - but I was soon a member of that wonderful group. The many good friends I met, the places I got to go camping and the fun I got to have were and still are, a huge part of my life. But in the SCA you have to pick a time and place where you would have lived. And just who you would have been if you had been living in that time.

So, being the redheaded man that I am, I chose my own family's historical land of Ireland and having a love of the sea and tall ships I picked a sailor.

And for the year 1599 - which is as close to the Sack of Baltimore as the SCA comes - an Irish sailor, but not just any sailor . . . 

A pirate.

Even if I had never met my friends, never joined the SCA, I would still be who I am. Those men of the sea, while outlaws, killers, and thieves certainly, had a freedom of life and attitude that I both honor, and respect by calling myself the Pirate.