Time passed, my divorce happened, and I found myself in need of company. A sad fact hit home one day that I was missing out on a large amount of physical contact with other humans. Prior to that point I had relied on my ex wife to provide virtually all of that. As she was no longer with me, in ANY aspect, I needed to find someone else to interact with. A fellow divorcee in a recovery class suggested that I drop in for the local shire meetings once again. Doing this, with three kids in tow, was quite an experience. I was both shunned as someone with noise makers (i.e. the kids) and introduced by my friend to everybody. As it turned out, a couple of my coworkers and past friends were also involved in the shire.

This time, things went somewhat smoother. I've been going to the weekly meetings of the local group for about a year now. I have attended a couple of weekend events, both of which I had quite a bit of fun at. I am not a "period police" type of player. I am there to have fun.

For me, the local SCA chapter has been quite a life saver. They have, within their normal ebb and flow of events, several things that give me the human interaction that I so desperately need. Additionally, there are a number of areas of interest/research that appeal to me. Specifically they are:

• Calligraphy, something that I had quite an affinity for in grade school.
• Inkle Weaving, is a method of producing "trim" for other garments. There is a good book called Inkle Weaving that is generally recommended by everybody that I've talked to as "the bible" of inkle weaving.
• Braid Weaving, is a different form of weaving that has some historical basis, with respect to the SCA's period of interest.

Additionally, here are a number of other SCA specific web sites of interest.