(Post 208 of 263)

I’m surprised by how upset I was by the news that Canada’s head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, died peacefully today at her beloved Balmoral Castle. It is not necessarily her I mourn, but what her death signifies, the true end of a world and way of life that has been in death throes for nearly two decades now.

I thought I would share my memory of the Queen. June 27th, 1998, I was in Edinburgh, Scotland, and about to climb Arthur’s Seat when I turned back to look at the commotion at Holyrood Palace only to see a tiny familiar person dressed in bright colours climb into a car! I changed my plans and ended up getting pretty lost following the royal procession.

(I can’t believe my journal doesn’t say what colour she was wearing. I was such a crappy journaller back then!)

Here is the Queen at Uxmal, Yucatán, in 1975 (I could not find a photo credit):