A very fond farewell...for now!

The last weekend of the Ohio Renaissance Festival for the year 2010. It marked my second year working with the Knights of Valour, my first jousting in the shows, my first as a knight.
None of my drafts describing the tournament at Estes Park, Colorado ever got posted. I wanted them to portray what I felt and was not satisfied with the results. There I was knighted. It meant, it means, more to me than some might have thought. Not just a title, not just an accomplishment - a dream. A dream that became a reality. And to all of those who are making the journey with me: thank you.
~~

So yes, the Columbus Dispatch came, interviewed me, and took photos of my first joust on Saturday. It was pretty cool, but nerve-racking. Before the joust I was constantly reminded of them being there by certain knights and told not to screw up because of my nerves...as well as told stories of how certain  knights screwed up in simple tasks and games just knowing media attention was on them. Did this help me to be calm? Naturally, no. It was extremely strange, let me tell you, to have a photographer from a newspaper out on the field knowing their story was going to be about me. Very, very strange. But they were awesome people and I am glad they came out.

Saturday was a beautiful day at fair. Friends, family, history, jousting...what more could a girl ask for? It started off with some great coffee and conversation from The Viking Wife, as well as some pug love, and ended with Mexican dinner. Jason brought a guy friend along. Apparently I was on a date. Thankfully it was not too awkward and was one of the those nights where it was hard to relax your face because you were laughing and smiling so constantly...and shivering? To my dismay I was feeling sick...

Before I continue, I would like to note something: I have known Kelly Martin, our head squire, for over a year now. I have NEVER seen her laugh as hard as she laughed that night. Not sure what she was laughing about as I was in a different conversation at the time, but it was fun to see her laugh so hard. :)

Anyway, so I was the first one back to the loft after dinner and even with my jacket on and my sleeping bag wrapped tightly around me, I was still shivering violently and my face felt very hot. Grrr, I wanted to joust well Sunday, not be sick! Thankfully two of my awesome brothers-in-arms, Jason and Bob, put a couple more blankets on me when they got in and I finally got some sleep. Sunday morning I was worse, and even after downing cold medicine (courtesty of J and Krysten - Thank you!) and having a cup of Liz's amazing coffee, things were not much better. Now maybe someday I'll be able to be sick and joust well anyway. But that morning I had the crappiest joust I have ever jousted. Shane was helping out the squires and I specifically remember two passes. He told me to keep my targeting true as I was having a bit of trouble with it. I came down to his end of the lyst after he told me this and he said, "No, that's his head." I felt bad for Jason, that he had to be the unfortunate one to joust against me that morning, and I felt bad that I could not rally.
When my helm came off and I dismounted, my spirits were crushed. My last joust of the fair season and it had to be like that? Why?? After signing broken lance pieces I went back to the tackroom, crashed on a couple of armor boxes, and that's where I stayed until the next joust. Thankfully they did not need me to squire in the second joust so I got to rest and watch. I have to say, Charlie and Jason put on a great show. It was the best one I have seen with the two of them jousting each other. Think Charlie won by one broken lance.

 So we were getting ready for the third and last joust. Someone asked Shane who was jousting in the last show. To my surprise, he said Jason, Charlie, and myself were doing the last show. A second chance! A last chance. By this time I was feeling better, just very dizzy (perhaps all of that Dayquil?). Jason and I were to joust first and the winner would go up against Charlie. Shane was to be the Emcee.

Us three knights did not know how the show was going to go other than the aforementioned. So when Shane was dividing up the crowd we were starting to get confused. Was he dividing them in thirds? No. Halves? Yeah, it looked that way...So...how was this going to work? One half was cheering for Charlie, one half for Jason. That's when Shane talked to the ladies of the crowd. They were to cheer for me. I was their champion. Did they think women could joust just as well as the men? Their thunderous cries said yes. Great. No pressure. Now I had to prove something for all of them as well. I knew (and know) that women can joust and joust well. I just had to prove it that day.

So, this was a day for my senior knight and older brother to live up to his titles and try his very hardest to embarass me. Before I gave out my favor he announced to the crowd that I was single, liked long walks on the beach, desperately needed a date, that they could find me on facebook under some ridiculous name, yadda yadda, and challenged any man in the crowd to ask me out...When I chose my favor he made the guy stand on the fence to give me a kiss. Well, Paladin (whom I was riding) was not having any of it and did not want to get that close to the guy (it wasn't my doing, I sware!). So of course, Shane took him by his bridle and led him over. One of things I love about the Knights of Valour is that they have taught me to have a sense of humor again. A few years ago I might have been upset at Shane. Now I just had a lot of fun with it! But enough about that. On to the joust!

Finally, I fell into my zone again. The last joust of the previous weekend everything had clicked and I was so disappointed that it had not as of yet that weekend. But I figured out what drives my zone. This my seem like a no-brainer, but it is not just remembering everything and doing it without thinking, it is having confidence (something everyone has been telling me from the beginning, I know. Easier said than done). I was able to get in my zone against Shane the weekend before because I knew his targeting was truer than anyone. If I came off it was going to be because he took me off, not because I was riding poorly, not because he got in a lucky shot. He was going to hit my grand guard true every time whether I hit him true or not. That gave me the confidence and determination to hit him true every time and to try my hardest to rise to his level.

With Jason that last day, as good as he is, it was not that reasoning that put me in the zone. It was pure determination not to let the women down, not to let my fellow knights down, not to let myself down, and not to let God down. God who has blessed me with all of the amazing opportunities in my life. He who put me in the place I am in now - whom I firmly believe made me to do this.
So I broke every lance - what an amazing feeling- and won. Phew!

It was Charlie's turn. Paladin and I were both anxious to get going as Charlie entered the lyst. BOOM! No break? What? Darn. Next pass. Still no break? Ack! What is up with that? I remember looking up at my unbroken lance and being mad at myself. Meanwhile Charlie is of course breaking his lances. Come on, I can't be that tired. Finally broken a lance, yay! The second to last pass I felt a buff blow (he hit me in my throat guard for those who do not know) which jammed my ill-fitting helm up into my head rather hard. Owe. That hurt. A lot. Because of that blow I am so very, very ashamed of my last pass that day. I flinched. We charged down the lyst and right before we hit each other, I flinched! (Still hit him, but off target.) Argh! I can't believe I did that! Still beating myself up about it. Justinn (an awesome friend and squire) tried to console me by reminding me that I was still fighting sickness. But as sweet as she is, being sick was not an excuse for flinching. *sigh* Oh well. At least I had a good joust against J.

Now I would like to mention that it was an honor to have Erin as our queen. I cannot picture anyone else in the role and you will be greatly missed.  Thank you for your constant support and encouragement. It meant a lot. Thank you to all of you in the cast who cheered me on and supported me!

A very special thank you to Justinn for coming all of the way out from Colorado to help us and hang out. It was so much fun!!
And here is to all of the knights and squires in my life! You have made this journey possible and my life is richer because of you! I wish I could tell all of the stories of how I met each of you, and maybe someday I will, but for now please know that you are so greatly appreciated.

The 2010 Ohio season may have ended, but my journey has just begun. This fall has been an incredible start to it all. What a learning experience! What friendships have been formed!
There is so much more to say about fair - so many events that have gone un-typed. Still, I feel I must end with this for now.
So on to training my mare, Connie. On to training myself for Spring. Here is to the beginning and not the end!
With love I leave you....
~Off to the lyst!~

And then it clicked.

“Do you want to Emcee this weekend?” Shane was asking Bob after his lesson on Friday evening. “It will be Jason and Jessica in the first show. If Jessica beats Jason, then she'll be jousting me in the second show, but if not then she won't. We'll see.” He was well aware that I was standing ten feet away, listening. No pressure.

First joust of the day on Saturday I rode Phantom. He was my partner in Estes Park, Colorado and I was excited to joust on him again. Phantom can be a little high strung some days, but he started out that morning's parade pretty calm. Halfway through the parade, however, he started to get...uh, excited might be a good word for it. Still, it was nothing too bad. But when we got ready to enter the arena, he became overly eager to do his job. The thing about Phantom is that even when he is high strung, he still runs down the jousting lyst well, which is one of the many reasons why I like him. Remember how I said it was going to be a good weekend? Not for one of our squires, Katie. We had won one of the games and I grabbed "gold" (candy) to throw out to my crowd. Phantom unexpectedly turned his butt toward Katie. I was not too worried because Katie is a horsewoman I knew she knew to get out of the way. She would have too...but when phantom turned, as Katie was moving away, he caught the edge of her boot with his hoof, so that as she tried to move away, she twisted and fell on the corner of the wood mounting block...ouch. Sorry Katie. I still feel really bad about that. However Phantom did not feel bad about it. I am convinced if English were going through his head it would be, Let's joust. Let's joust! As evidenced in him not wanting to hold still while waiting for our opponents to come about. Another thing about Phantom is that because he gets so over-eager, we let him “turn and burn”. That means Phantom and I wait where we stopped at the end of the pass until our opponent is set and ready to charge, then Phantom turns and runs down the lyst without stopping to set. Because he is one of the primary horses I ride in heavy armor, I am used to this and can usually counter the g-forces that ensue with such a turn, and then get back in a good position to joust. Well, he did not just turn and burn that morning – he turned and caught on fire! Which made it extremely difficult to keep my balance coming around the turn to head down the lyst lane. Still, I was able to hit Jason most of the time. And it was not just Phantom's fault either. I was still psyching myself out. Coming down the lane, I was not always sure I could do it. You have to be sure. Ergh. 
Thinking that Saturday was my day, it was highly disappointing when not only did I not win that joust, but I had not jousted well either. Mom had come to watch me that day too. I like to call her my good luck charm. Well, I don't believe in luck really anyway. Perhaps prayer warrior is a better term. I was happy to have her there :).

When I don't joust well, it is all I can do not to beg Shane to let me joust again that same day. The next morning seems very far away and I want another chance as soon as possible. I knew it would not be given. Tomorrow was another day.

After getting an awful sleep Saturday night, I found myself getting frustrated and angry easily Sunday morning, but tried to save it for the jousting lyst. This helps more than you might think. A few things were smoothed out by coffee though, and after two large cups and a couple of antacids I was feeling much better.

Finally it was time to joust on Sunday. Phantom and I were partnered up again. He was very calm that day and gave me incredibly smooth gaits (more so than usual, as he always has smooth gaits). We won both of the games that morning - the first time that has happened. Would we win the joust? Yes we would. After all of the times I had jousted Jason, I had not beaten him, until then. Still, I was not happy with the way I had jousted. I was so determined to hit him every pass that I was not focusing on a single point, just a general area. This obviously caused me to hit off target a couple of times and I did not break as many lances as I should have, not to mention my seat could have been better. No, I am not being excessively hard on myself. That's just the way it is. Had it been a tournament I would not have won. Because of this, I was not sure if Shane would count it as the win I needed to advance to the next level, so to speak, and go up against him in the next joust. Apparently no one else was sure either. Honestly, I was afraid to ask Shane because if he said no, I was so tired I was afraid something emotional might come out. You know, like tears. 

When I finally got the courage to ask him, he said it would be him and Jason next show. I must have looked disappointed because he said, “You wanted it, didn't you, Jessica?” Well, yeah, “Didn't you, Jessica?” “Do you want to joust this show?” He kept repeating the question in his annoying older brother way. I wanted to tell him that any opportunity I have to joust, I will take, but every time I started that sentence I could feel an emotional clop in my throat and stopped. Finally I managed a “Sure,” with a steady voice. So he said I could. As eager as I was to joust one last time that weekend, I was not ready for what happened to me.

The second show of the day usually has the largest crowd. This day was no different. Shane was riding one of the young horses, Praetorian, and I was riding Crispin (my other partner from Estes). This show happened to be special because my friend (and a friend of all of the knights and squires there), Shawn, was Emcee that show. He did an awesome job, as usual. But as we were waiting to be called into the arena I was not thinking about Shawn being emcee or about the huge crowd of people. I was thinking, Shane gave me this opportunity, now all I have to do is not screw it up. And as we stood there I was picturing a steady lowering of my lance, it breaking dead center of the gridded grand guard, and bringing what remained of it back up right away. This went through my head over and over again. To help things, I had asked Jason (who was helping the squires that show) to remind me of using my right leg to keep Crispin straight and true down the lyst lane.

However, things did not start out well. The first game was combo, which I am not good at anyway. It was no different this show. Great start...The second game I got to chop an apple off of a friend's (Garret!) head. Hey, I didn't miss. Yay! Hehe. (He did have a helm on, don't worry.)

Then it was time to joust. Even though I was sweating profusely in the heat, once I had my helm on, the oven I turned into went unnoticed. All that mattered was the joust. Center. Target. Timing. Leg. The first pass was a miss for both of us. Praetorian is an unusually fast jousting horse and since he is new, no one is really used to the timing yet. Second pass was a hit, I believe.
Third pass. “Right leg, Jessica, right leg!” Jason shouted and as I came down the lyst, everything clicked. I could kick Crispin with my right leg, while making sure my timing was good and at the same time focus steadily on the center of Shane's gridded grand guard while remembering to keep weight in my left stirrup. Time slowed for me. Even as my contacts blurred from sweat, the target did not waiver. It felt right, smooth. BOOM! Both of our lances shattered into oblivion. Running down again, the same thing happened. Then it happened again. Shane still won, but I had achieved a victory of my own. Everything finally came together. It was so amazing it's hard to describe. I even feel a little sheepish for being so happy about a joust I did not win. With all my heart I hope I can keep this up.

After Crispin and I were done signing broken lance pieces (Okay, so I signed for Crispin ;b), one of our squires, Sam, handed me a rose from the dais. Thanks guys! That was so sweet. It was my favorite kind, too.

Finally, I had a joust I was happy with. Really happy with. That did not even happen at Estes Park. Don't get me wrong, I still could have done better, but the feeling of everything clicking is something I will not forget and will hopefully experience a lot more. After praying and training so hard, it happened. What a wonderful feeling.
Until next time...
Off to the lyst!~