Big brass shell

This brass shell casing is an old Winchester 10 gauge shotgun shell. It has an interesting story behind it. A few years ago, whilst working for a client at their offices at an old farm house in New Jersey, I found this old shell in what we called "the Muskrat Room". It is one of several artifacts I found on the property, including an old horseshoe nailed to a tree out back.

Fast forward a few years, and I finally got to meet my wife's (then, fiancee's) best friend, Marianne. Marianne was later to become my wife's maid of honor at our wedding. In talking to Marianne, I got to telling her about my job and where I worked. As it happened (it's a small world), the house in which my office was located used to be the home of her (my wife's friend) grandmother. She vividly remembered the house and hunting for Easter eggs in the yard, and she even remembered the "Muskrat Room". She didn't know that my client had bought the house years after the death of her grandparents.

Now here's the spooky part - Marianne also remembered (as a little girl) an old horseshoe that was nailed to a tree in the yard. Well, imagine her surprise when I went into Flintlock's Arsenal and retrieved that very same horseshoe for her to keep. I also gave her an old door lock that we found in the barn out back - probably dating from the original 1700's part of the house.

Well, long after I gave her that old horseshoe, and even after she was my wife's maid of honor, I myself was honored when Marianne asked if I would be willing to officiate at her wedding ceremony. I promptly joined the Universal Life Church, and performed said ceremony on the beach in a beautiful and highly secular exchange of vows. I count this as one of my favorite 10 experiences in my entire life, along with my own marriage and birth of my son.

Back to the shell - this I kept. I now use it as a slide for a lap steel guitar that I refinished last year. Go to my My Space Band page to hear some of my blues music (if not this slide or guitar). I can't play slide with this shell without thinking about the improbable chain of events that surround it.