Sad Goodbyes

This weekend we went to Autumn War, once again down in the far away place known as Randle, and we kicked butt. We, as an alliance with Clan Carn and the Barony of Blath An Or, beat Lionsgate and won Autumn War. Two of the gals in our group also contributed to the total winning war points by entering in and winning the Arts and Sciences competition where they sat and sewed two pieces of garb over a 6 hour straight sew off. It sounded like fun and I wish I could have been a part of it.

Sadly, though, Autumn War marked the last time we would see Tim and Amy for a long time.

-

Amy moved to Washington with her sister Lisa and Lisa's husband Greg about 6 years ago. Greg went job hunting and found Walter working at the Whistle Stop Ale House, in Renton, where they were looking for a chef in their kitchen. A few days later they had hired both Lisa and Greg as a chef and waitress and it didn't take very long to find that they were our kind of people. At the time Walter was living with Tim in his condo in Renton and so we introduced Greg and Lisa, who of course brought Amy along, to Tim and the group of us became friends right away. Three years later Tim and Amy got married, April 16, 2004. Lisa and Greg moved back to Massachusetts two years (?) ago and Amy for the last couple years has been longing to go home too especially since Tim is looking forward to having a family and Amy would like her Sister and Mom to be there to support her. So now after all things that were holding them back in Renton have been resolved, the condo has been sold, an awesome RV has been bought they are making an incredible road trip across country to old friends and loving family.

-

This was a hard transition though for all the friends they have here. Medlested is very attached to Tim and Amy because they have done so many wonderful things for the group and there were a lot of tears shed. I hadn't realized how much they meant to me until the inevitable day had arrived. It dawned on me that there would be a hole in the SCA for me (Amy was the one who found the SCA and introduced it to us three years ago) and that not being able to see them whenever was going to be really strange. It made me sad too to think that they wouldn't see Padon get older, except in pictures, and that we wouldn't be there for the birth of their first child. Both Walter and I wanted to send them off with a really heart felt gift and so we decided that we would make them both a pair of leather boots like the pair I made Walter (which online run $750 a pair) but custom tailored to their SCA devices and personas.

Can't upload the front of Tim's boots for some reason....

Back of Tim's boots (conceptual design created in Photoshop)

-
Front of Amy's Boot (conceptual design created in Photoshop)
Back of Amy's Boot (conceptual design created in Photoshop)
-

We left them at our last group "Rate the event" lunch and I found myself crying in the Jimmy as we made the four hour drive home. They will be greatly missed and we will try to stay in contact with them a lot.

-

Medlested and company have decided that we will make a trek to see them every three to five years. As it stands the goal is to rent a charter bus, load it with our gear (man that will be a sight) and drive across country to wage war on the Kingdom of the East and the Barony of Smoking Rock to take back what is ours (Tim and Amy). The irony is that Tim and Amy, having been named the ambassadors to the Kingdom of An Tir (our kingdom), will have to let their King and Queen know we are waging war and then because they will be ambassadors to Aquaterra (our Barony) they will have to fight on our side. We all think this would make for a fantastic road trip and look forward to it happening. We will see where we are in three years but as a bardic group (nick naming ourselves Battle Bards) I can just hear the war songs we would sing as we marched onto the battle field. Too cool! Rumor too is that fighters in An Tir fight harder than the Kingdom of the East (rule of thumb is you should be able to hit hard enough to knock a bowling ball, propped up, three feet off and to the side). Supposedly their form of fighting isn't hard compared to what our fighters are used to.

-

Medlested sent Tim and Amy off with the original house banner and Tim and Amy have promised to set up a new household called Medlested East.

-

So we are all sad to see them go but feel ourselves still contected.

-

Two more weeks and the last SCA event for the season - Banner War. I am so glad for a break...