Living History

oking up from checking the oil in the truck, I see my wife Meg locking the door behind her. “All set?” she asks, bouncing down the steps.

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“Looks that way,” I reply, climbing behind the wheel, ready to start the trip. This was to be our last big adventure before she entered residency at the local hospital while I took up teaching history at the university. The back seat held our dogs, and the trailer was packed with our personal gear, all four of our horses, my portable forge setup, building tools, as well as Meg’s leatherworking and fletching tools. We were on our way to a new living history village depicting life in late medieval Europe that was in its infancy. I was to be the resident blacksmith, helping with the building and ‘martial’ exhibitions. Meg was to be our leatherworker, giving demonstrations of various methods of making bows and arrows and acting as our resident medic if anyone was hurt or became ill. We had started out on what would turn out to be the trip of a lifetime.

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At this point in our tale, I should probably introduce myself and my companions. My name is Alan Ward. I’m a 28-year-old soon-to-be history professor. My thesis was a study of metalworking advances in the High Middle Ages. I’m 6’2” tall and 240 pounds with dark brown hair and green eyes. My wife, Meghan Ward, is 26 years old and scheduled to begin her residency in emergency medicine this fall. She is 5’6” and 125 pounds with long red hair and green eyes. Meg is one of the rare redheads that can tan rather than suffer through the “freckles growing closer together” reaction to the sun. Our traveling companions include our dogs Max, Emma, Bonny, and Janie. The dogs are all Black Mouth Curs. While a fairly young breed, they are great hunting and watch dogs. The horses are Rorschach, Midnight, Blackie, and Shadow, named in honor of the black coats that are part of the Friesian breed standard. Rorschach, our stallion, and the three mares are all purebred Friesian horses, each over 15 hands, with the stud horse being over 16.