IT’S BEEN ONE YEAR SINCE THE WORLD LOST QUEEN ELIZABETH

But it feels like just yesterday.

I remember everything about that day exactly.

I knew that the Queen had not been feeling well, and that concern woke me up very early that day to check a news site to see if she was feeling better. My heart sank when the headline was that her family was rushing to Balmoral.

I was worried for her all day, but I had to be at a pre-Emmys luncheon, so I couldn’t stay home and ruminate on the situation.

I hoped all morning that she would rally, as she always had; we rarely heard of Her Majesty having even a sniffle in her whole very long life! And she had been fully-dressed, (adorably, I must say,) just two days prior, when she greeted her new Prime Minister, so I kept trying to push my unease down.

But the second my phone rang at the event, I said, “Uh-oh,” out loud, just as I had eleven years earlier when my Brooklyn house phone had rung as I was leaving to go back to the hospital that my mother had just been taken to that morning. In both cases, I knew their lives here on earth were over. What a horrible feeling. (But I do picture those two fabulous ladies giggling up in heaven, with my precious little mo keeping the cute Queen amused. And they’re both reunited with their long-time husbands.)

So here it is, the year anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death, and I feel compelled to join in the tributes to that great world leader with my own tiny one.

People all over should take inspiration from her, on many levels, both big and small. For example, in my own little life, during my almost two weeks now at home in pajamas, (because I stay in on purpose to watch every second of the US Open,) I’ve often thought of how the Queen got all perfectly-attired every day of her life. She even still wore heels! At ninety-six years of age! That all always boggles my mind.

I cannot express my feelings about Elizabeth better than I did a year ago, the day after she passed, so here’s the link to that brief article, in case you’re interested: itsnotaboutme.tv/news/breaking-news-the-queen-has-died.

I do have a few more random thoughts, which I actually jotted down in the days right after her death, that still stand today:

~ She was adorable, and reminded me of my own little mo.

~ And, just like my feelings for my mother, and even for Clarence, my beloved little dog, I loved the Queen more as she got very old.

~ I was actually surprised that she lived almost a year and half without her precious Prince Philip. They were always sooooo in love. The picture of her sitting all alone at his funeral, due to the pandemic, is still one of the most heartbreaking images I have ever seen. I feel her immense pain all over again just thinking of that photo.

~ But I surmise that she willed herself to live longer because she felt she had more to accomplish. Which she did, of course.

~ I’m always sick that those creeps, Harry and his repulsive scheming wife, made the last years of his supposedly beloved grandmother’s life hell. They have no shame.

As I’ve been looking over pictures and tidbits from her ninety-six years this morning, my overriding thought is—what a life!

My final thought of the day is that I feel Queen Elizabeth would be proud of how her son, now King Charles, is handling the modern monarchy. May his reign be a long and healthy one, as well.