Guess what I did last weekend, part two!

Well, by now you know that I went and got myself hitched again. YARR, avast! I tell you what, at the very least it gives me a reason to speak piratey for the rest of my life if I want. And I DO WANT.

But before I tell you the story of the weekend and the wedding and all the not-sleeping because it was Penguicon, I have to tell you about LAST year. Last year at Penguicon 5.0, which was when I – quite by accident – met Troy.

And, before I go any further – I have to blame ALL of this on my good buddy Matt. Because he was the one who told me about Penguicon to begin with.

So last year, about this time, things were all drama and whatnot around my home. I was living in a different place, a little two-bedroom house with a nasty garage and a damp-ish basement, and I had kicked Tim out only a month and a half previously. I was not only NOT looking for love, I was not even looking for more friends. I was geeked about Penguicon because I wanted to be around other geeks, to talk about books and Linux and maybe learn some new things. Lithie and I planned to go together – I had babysitting for the kids planned out, I had money for registrations, and we had the weekend free – and we were practically exploding with the pent-up need to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE ALREADY, AUUGH.

We showed up on Friday and got our registrations, our program books, and proceeded to walk around together, going to various panels and meeting various people, and managing to (apparently) make it look like we were geek lesbian lovers. Ha! I guess if you are two hot women at a nerd convention, you MUST be lesbian. But I digress.

Most of that weekend is a blur, except for one or two parts that I remember pretty vividly. One of the things I remember so clearly was the elevator opening and a tall young man with long blond hair, dressed all in black, was standing there, STARING AT ME. In fact, weirdly, we were staring at each other. I gigglesnorted, he grinned, and I believe I said something lame like “Oh hai”, and I got on the elevator and went up to the second floor to partake of the food in the marvelous ConSuite.

This blond Jedi (Lithie saw him before I did, and ran over to me screaming and laughing hysterically, “LUKE SKYWALKER WAS IN THE ELEVATOR, I SHIT YOU NOT!!”) kept showing up around all the corners I found myself walking past, much to my amusement. I could feel his eyes on me from across rooms, through crowds of people. I thought to myself, ha ha ha, he has a crush on me!

It wasn’t until Saturday afternoon that I actually met the Jedi, and one of the first things I said was something about my three kids. Because you know the first thing that scares away guys who are just looking for something quick and dirty is mention of children or other relationships. And lo and behold, he was not only completely at ease about it, he was excessively respectful. His manners were almost old-fashioned, and by the time he had explained to me that he was, in fact, dressed as a Sith, had manufactured his own light saber, and hand-stitched his leather boots as well as his entire costume, I was fascinated.

Things were complicated for me. Far too complicated to be with someone already, so soon after such a huge thing had happened to me and my family. I had taken my mommy responsibilities so seriously that I had relegated myself to becoming a twice-divorced woman with three kids from two baby daddies (hahaha, I hate that phrase). I knew that what I’d decided to do for my kids was the best thing I had ever done, but also the hardest. I knew that there was a lot of pain, heartache, and confusion in our futures – right along with the joy, freedom, and strength that comes with fulfilling one of your life’s purposes.

(This picture courtesy of Davroz, who takes many random shots of people wandering about during local cons. Incidentally, he took some of our wedding photos as well – so you’ll see more from him later.

Yes, I look incredibly tired – all the caffeine was starting to be totally ineffective. Also I look a little pissy, because I was paranoid. Chalk that one up to over-caffeination too.)

Complicated or not, strange timing or not, sometime around midnight I found myself walking arm in arm with the Sith, and sometime later than that, I found that I had an irresistible desire to kiss him. And so I did. I think maybe he wanted to kiss me too.

(Stay tuned for the next part… )

Tagged as: how i met troy, penguicon, pirate wedding