I had the chance to go to the Texas Renaissance Festival this weekend with a girlfriend, and we had a great time dressing up in costumes pieced together from thrift store finds and hand-me-downs. The festival is not far from my brother’s cemetery, so I wanted to stop by on the way and check to make sure the flowers still looked nice, etc.

As we were getting ready that morning in our hotel, I laughed out loud at a thought that flitted into my head. My friend asked what it was, and I told her that I realized we were going to the cemetery dressed in medieval costumes. At first, I thought it might be disrespectful, but the reason I laughed was because I think my brother would love it! The Ren Fest was one of his favorite annual events, though I haven’t been since I was a teenager.

So, I hiked up my long skirt to keep from getting it dirty, traipsed across the grass and squatted down in the dirt next to his grave. I used a fallen leaf to dust off the headstone as I chuckled to myself. I’m glad no one else was around, because who knows what they would have thought of us. Hey – at least I was dressed as a maiden and not a gypsy! 🙂

The Ren Fest was a lot of fun, and little memories of my brother came back to me throughout the day, especially when we browsed through shops that I know he would like. People in the crowd – costumed and in street clothes – reminded me of him. I saw “him” as a husky middle schooler gnawing on a turkey leg, a too-cool-to-be-walking-around-with-my-parents teenager and a young father carrying his son on his shoulders.

When I was a teenager and he was a tween, we didn’t get along at all. Thankfully, things changed when we grew up, and I think we would have had a lot of fun together this weekend.