It's true. I found out last night talking to Annie B, our incredibly hospitable and incredibly southern host for the week. I did some reading before bed because I was so intrigued and learned this:
Blackbeard, real name Edward Teach, was in fact a real pirate who terrorized the eastern seaboard in the early years of the 1700s. At one point, he gave up the pirate's life of plundering to settle down and live the gentleman's life. He married his 14th wife, a 16-year-old girl. (Sooo gentlemanly.) Unfortunately, he quickly became bored and took to the seas again. He was eventually taken out by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Ocracoke Island. It took 5 gunshots and 20 severe stab wounds to bring the brotha down. Oh, and, when they would plunder stuff, he put wicks in his gnarly black beard and lit them on fire. Yea. I know.
Now, I don't know why this altered my world so much but it did. Kind of like learning that Santa Claus doesn't exist but in reverse. I'm doing all I can to hold my dreams of being Johnny's Kiera Knightly in Pirates of the Caribbean at bay. sigh.
This is only one of the many things I have learned in the day and a half I've spent at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I have also learned that the houses pictured in Coastal Living are real. I know this because I am currently sitting in a yellow room with all white furniture that has double doors that leading to the Atlantic Ocean. I have learned why James Taylor wanted to go to Carolina in his mind. Its absolutely beautiful and bursting with personality. Our drive through the backroads revealed a whole new world to us: human hair is for sale, profanity is apparently not allowed at the gas station, and men here are starved for pretty girls. Acutually, any girls, really.
Finally, I have learned the meaning of true hospitality. Annie B and Big B have basically showed us the bikes and the beach, fed us and have told us to do whatever we want. What a gift. I don't think I realize how crazy the city makes me until I step out of it for a minute and can hear the sound of the ocean again. This is exactly what I need. Space. Time to think. Wise counsel.
And some aloe. I really need some aloe.
I love my life.
3 comments:
I just remembered you started a blog. Good stuff so far. How on earth did you manage to burn yourself so badly!? Aloe? I think you might need a skin graft.
I think if you check the wikepedia you will see that "blackbeard" edward teach was defeated by her majesties ship ranger
Nice blog, but it was Lieutenant Robert Maynard of HMS Pearl in Her Majesty's Royal Navy who "took out" the English Edward Teach "Blackbeard", an event still commemorated in the British Navy.
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