It only took one night listening to Mark Lewis to make sitting cuddled next to your favorite stranger on a hay bale a tradition. I remember well my first faire, my first experience of Mark. I remember Suzy telling us that we were going to see Mark at main stage and we better get there early and save seats. We had no idea what we were in for, but at 15 years old we listened to our surrogate mother and did as we were told. We got there an hour early and the first several rows were taken, but we managed to get about 4th row center. David was already taking his giant's strides to meet us there. I tucked in next to him, Kat next to me, John, Kevin, Jen(one of the older booth girls) and Then Suz. It was still and beautiful. A perfect So.Cal evening as most faire nights seemed to be. As Mark broke away from hugs and conversations and made his way to the front the chatter stopped. The crowd was spellbound before he ever spoke, including us newbies who had never seen him before. He introduced himself and spoke of his favorite "Red Verbs" as packs of wint-O-Green lifesavers were passed around. David nudged me and said "Take one and pass it down, don't eat it!", Okaaay? I thought. I leaned in and whispered "What's this for?", he chuckled his hearty, Jolly Green Giant Chuckle and asked " haven't you ever done Spark in the Dark?" No, I quickly answered. He poked me again to listen to Mark as he gave instructions. Over the next minute we turned to each other in the dark and marveled over the science of a breath mint! It was wonderful, magical and only the beginning. That night we learned about Word Pictures. We made it rain on a still, clear summer night. We hear the Jabberwocky aloud for the first time and for the first time it made sense. After that there was no question that Mark was our Renaissance rock star. Our Shakespeare, our favorite magician. He became our tradition, our tall tale and our connection to a world that only existed inside those grounds. As we grew those grounds expanded until we were creating our own lives with a space set aside for magic. Mark lives on in each of us. In every re telling of every story. Although we can never be Mark, you can't help but to convey what you felt as you sat down to listen. I will be forever grateful to Mark for all of those years of shared stories and amazing moments.... And my faire family who took in a curious 15 year old and taught me how to live a magical life.