Even at my ripe old age, there only ever was Queen Elizabeth. A Queen was not a side-piece to a King, a Queen could be in charge. Here are random bullets of my thoughts and memories on Queen Elizabeth
- In school when boys would taunt me that girls can’t do anything, I’d let them know that Queens are girls, and they can rule large parts of the world. Then they’d switch to girls can’t play sports to taunt me. That was before I learned about the Babe Didrikson and Billie Jean King.
- The Queen was a working mom. She had children AND a big job. She traveled, she got dressed up, hung out with her family, lived in castles, and she had dogs. (So many dogs!! I was jealous that her children had all the dogs.) She had lots of help with all of those things, as is befitting a queen. But I knew she was a career woman and mom, and looked like a nice mom, too.
- Queen Elizabeth was the Head of my church, when I converted from Catholicism at age 29. It felt good to know a strong woman was in charge, not a long line of single old men.
- The older Elizabeth got, the more she started to resemble my mom’s side of the family. That’s when I learned, she came from a long line of Germans, like my mom’s family. When the Queen laughed, she reminded me of my much loved grandmother, who had the same type of laugh. My mother, at almost 92, also bears a resemblance to the Queen. The German is strong in all of them.
- During the COVID crisis, the Queen gave a speech to the Commonwealth actually game me much hope. Unlike the minimizing of the crisis by my country’s orange leader, the Queen went on record: These are hard times, but better days were ahead. I believed her, as she spoke from experience. I listened to that speech several times in the week after it was given, because I needed those words of encouragement.
- The daughters of a friend thought Queen Elizabeth was immortal because she lived so long. I think I did too.
As an admirer from the U.S., I am grateful for her example of grace and leadership.
Thoughts on Queen Elizabeth