Now for most of you reading this, the title of this blog post is self-evident. Most of you have met her, heard her speak, and know where she was born. I even refer to her as Lovely English Lass. She carries a red passport along with her blue US one. She is undoubtedly English.
But, there's something you have to know. There's English. And then there's ENGLISH. My wife has always fallen into the former rather than the latter. She's from Yorkshire, which is quite known for not being fussed with things like the Monarchy, or anything to do with the "Soft South." In fact, the North is where numerous independent thoughts originated from. Socialism and Communism were originally thought of in the North. (Manchester for Communism.) At one time in the 1800s, there were over 100 vegetarian restaurants in Manchester alone. Sheffield, where LEL is from, provided the steel for the British Empire. Labor (or Labour in British English) has always had a strong appeal up North.
Which is why it was so disarming on Wednesday of last week when I received an email from my wife asking if we could have a Jubilee Party on Saturday. To say I was a bit gobsmacked is an understatement. Really? But she was serious, and so the planning went on for my wife to celebrate the 60 years on the throne for Queen Elizabeth (God save the Queen! Long may she reign!). She even started downloading patriotic British songs. ("Jerusalem", "Land of Hope and Glory", "Rule Britannia" and of course, "God Save The Queen.")
LEL tried very hard to get the kids involved in the planning. She'd ask Crazy Little Man, "Are you British or American?" At first, all she got in response was, "I'm American." But soon, he'd reply, "I'm British AND American." Good enough for government work, that. Lovely Little Girl meanwhile was not interested in the event, mainly because it was for someone royal that wasn't her.
The day arrived, and we still had a lot to do. Sadly, the car was acting up again, so we were without our normal set of wheels. That didn't stop the party though! With the help of a rental car, we finished our shopping, CLM took a nap, and LLG tried very hard not to get into any trouble, with little success. But, my Lovely English Lass was on a roll! She was in the kitchen preparing homemade Coronation Chicken and her own invention: Coronation Chickpeas. She made her own cream for scones and to go on top of the Trifle. She made bacon wrapped sausages and made Pimm's to drink. She made her own decorations, and had photos of the queen through the ages printed and placed around the dining room. She even took a Kleenex Box, covered it in Union Jacks, and placed slips of paper inside with famous gaffes from Prince Philip. (Everyone at the party would take out a gaffe and read it aloud. The party agreed that his use of the exclamation "Ghastly!" was brilliant, and that we should try to use it at least once in a meeting this week.)
Everyone arrived, and the party went quite well with one exception. The player for the iPod kept making a funny noise, so we moved the music to her iPhone. However this didn't put a damper on the festivities. Everyone loved the food, the kids played on the "Bouncy Windsor Castle" we had outside, and the day was a complete success.
I thought about all of this later on, and realized how much LEL has given up to travel around the world with me. She could have been back in Blighty at a block party, or out with her friends back in London. So I suppose that is why she suddenly felt British this week. That's fine with me. It's part of who she is, and part of who my kids are as well. It'll be nice to go back in September, see her friends and the rest of the family, and finally show Crazy Little Man his "other" home country. And who knows? Maybe one day I'll end up living there too. You never know where life takes you. It took LEL to a Jubilee party, and I know I wasn't expecting that!
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