I was deeply saddened and moved by the recent death of our gracious and dignified Queen Elizabeth II . I was surprised by my own emotion. For many of us, she is the only monarch we have ever known . She was born the same year as my own mom and my mom always reminded me of that. I recall seeing her portrait in our school in the fifties and thinking how beautiful she was….just like my mom. Now I realize our mothers , who were young in the fifties, admired her and wore the same hairstyle, carried their purse in a similar way, wore similar clothes and white gloves. She was a strong woman yet beautiful and showed such grace and a sense of duty. She was their role model .

So it should have come as no surprise to me that I would feel a sense of deep loss when I learned that our beloved Queen had passed away. My own mom has passed away, but as long as Queen Elizabeth was in this world I still felt like I had a piece of mom on earth. Queen Elizabeth’s comforting words to the world during the pandemic were not only meaningful but it felt as though it was mom telling me that ’ we’ll meet again ’ and the pandemic would end one day.
I recall pledging allegiance ’to this flag and to our Queen and Commonwealth for which it stands’ and being proud to do so. We flew the Union Jack with pride and back then Canada did not have a flag of our own. We were in every sense little British subjects. Perhaps I feel a stronger connection to the monarchy and to Great Britain than my children and grandchildren do . My granddaughter did surprise me though with an Instagram post which shared condolences for the loss of the Queen and spoke of her great love of horses and dogs….something my granddaughter could relate to. She realized that they had this love in common.
Queen Elizabeth was the mom and grandmother of the nation in her later years. She was calm and had common sense. She had dignity, poise , grace and an incredible sense of duty . She was born into a family of privilege but she had to give up so much during her seventy year reign…. she gave up something most of us take for granted….our privacy. She was extraordinary and yet she was ordinary . May our Gracious Queen Elizabeth II Rest in Peace.