"Hi! I'm Phil, What's your name?"

This weekend my daughter coerced me into joining her and a group of friends, for a trip to the Maryland Renaissance Festival... Last year around this time we attended the 'Festival' for the first time. I wasn't that impressed, but my daughter LOVED IT! She saved her pennies for an entire year to have a period dress made and to buy one of these.

So she had a great time. While I did enjoyed the time spent with friends, I loathed, the dirt, the ruthless uncomfortable benches (which are the only available seating), the port-o'-poties, but most of all I despise the crowds. I should note that you wouldn't believe there was a recession in the works by the number of people (for lack of a better term) 'pissing' their money away at 'The Festival'... The line for the ATMs alone was mind-boggling.

So back to the crowds of people...
When it came time to leave the park, (we stayed there until closing) the mass exodus in the parking lot was a logistical nightmare. Lines of cars sat idling virtually everywhere throughout the field designated for parking. My hearts desire was to reach my car at the far end of 'East Jabip' so that I might at last rest my backside on a comfortable seat with a back on it. In order to expedite the process, my daughter and I worked our way through the traffic jam at an angle in the direction of our vehicle... In a kind of 'As the crow flies' manner, separating ourselves from the rest of our group. As we were weaving our way through long lines of cars I heard a voice call out from behind me, "Hey, what's your name? My name is ??il!" I continued walking but then heard it again, "Hi, my name is ??il, what's your name?" So this time I turned around and saw a guy, roughly 20-something, sitting on the hood of a car, along with a guy behind the wheel, waiting in a stream of vehicles that weren't moving and weren't about to start moving any time within the next millenium. When I turned I pointed to myself and said, "Are you talking to me?" To which he replied, "Yeah, what's your name, my name is ??il!" I told him my name and then he said, "Hi Margie, I'm ??il!" Then he pointed to my daughter and said, "And what's her name?" I said, "That's Sarah." and he replied with, "Hi Sarah, my name is ??il!"

I have to admit I was struck by how odd this guy was, shouting across cars in an attempt to greet people, but I guess a little charmed too. So I asked him, "Did you say your name was Bill?" He said, "No, it's Phil." Then I said, "So Phil, what's up, are you just taking advantage of this opportunity to meet people? He replied with, "Yep, that's exactly what I'm doing!" So I walked the 20 or so paces back over to him, stuck my hand out and said, "Hi Phil, it's really nice to meet you!" A big smile spread across his face and he replied, "And Sarah it's really nice to meet you too!" So of course I replied, "Nope, I'm Margie." I pointed to my daughter and said, "She's Sarah." He chuckled and said, "Oh sorry, nice to meet you Margie."

Phil, probably forgot my name again before his car even exited the park, but it was a rather pleasant exchange. Later as our group sat together in the van, waiting for the traffic to dissipate, my daughter asked me to tell the others about Phil. After I shared the story one of the kids we were with asked quite puzzled, "Why do you think he was doing that?" I told him that Phil was most likely making the best of an unpleasant situation by taking the opportunity to meet new people. Then I added rather humorously, "Plus, I think he thought I was hot!" That's when another kid from our group began laughing. I smiled and looked at him and said, "You're laughing a little too hard there Mike!" He tried to apologize while trying to suppress his guffaws. That's when I informed Mike that he would be walking home. Well not really, but when he stepped out of the van for a few minutes, I locked all the doors, so that when he returned I could watch him squirm a little bit.

So yeah, I guess the 'Ren Fest' wasn't ALL that bad.