The Trip That Wasn't

When I was in the 5th and 6th grades I had the Best.Teacher.Ever-Mr. Sell. If memory serves me correctly, Mr. Sell was an ex-patriot Brit, now an American citizen who was a very patriotic American, but still had deep admiration for his home country. No common core in those days, teachers could teach however they saw fit, and Mr. Sell gave us an education heavy on history and literature. In the 5th grade we read Dickens' Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol. In the 6th grade it was Homer's Iliad & Ulysses. Hence my lifelong interest in mythology, history (Especially English), and literature. Around the same time PBS, my parents favorite station, was showing on Masterpiece Theater "The Six Wife's of Henry VIII" and "Elizabeth R" By time I was 12 I was an anglophile of the first order.

 One day I came home from school and my mother was hanging up the phone, and I could tell she was very excited. "Guess what Laura?"  "We are going to England!" Well, I started screaming and jumping up and down for joy until my startled mother realized I took "we" to mean all of us, and not what "we" really meant, her and my dad. I was crushed. To make matter worse, they were going to be gone for several weeks, and would miss my birthday. Like any girl who is 12, but thinks she is a teenager I sulked and pouted. My mother's assurances that one day we would go as a family fell on deaf ears (Turned out that never happened). Needless to say I poured on the guilt. It worked, my parents came back laden with gifts. What I really remember though were the postcards. About a week after they flew across the pond came the first one; a photograph of the current Queen. Then came one of Henry VIII, followed in order by Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. And finally, a copy of a portrait of the first Elizabeth.

I would finally make it to England in 1981. I was there the day of the official engagement between Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, I remember hearing the name Lady Diana and thinking "who??' Kind of amazing looking back, as she only became one of the worlds most famous woman, but then I thought Madonna would be a flash in the pan. Anyway, my first trip to England is a rather good story, but it will have to wait until another time.