I am so ashamed!

[L Verge]

There are other people obsessed with their hobbies besides we Lincolnites. When my daughter first started dating the jerk she would later marry, she "confessed" to him one night that her mother was a little weird. She was really into the Lincoln assassination and had a lot of friends who dressed in hoop skirts and uniforms and did Civil War reenactments.

The young man started to laugh. Jen thought he was laughing at the thought of meeting me - this weird lady. He was actually laughing because he had grown up off the North Carolina coast on a pirate ship that his father had built for the family (six of them) to live on while they also did pirate reenactments in full regalia. Come to find out, Jen's future father-in-law is the only registered privateer in the U.S., with papers signed by President Reagan to prove it. He still participates in the pirate battles off North Carolina, but also works with students in teaching sailing and maritime history.

At the wedding, he came in full pirate gear, and his sword was used to cut the wedding cake. When Jen's marriage broke up, I wanted to use that sword for something else! BTW: He even changed his name legally. He is now Capt. Horatio Sinbad. We just call him "Crazy Grandpa." For our North Carolina posters, look for him in the waters around Morehead City and Beauford.