The Spirit of Britannia

Today I wanted to be British.

Maybe it was all the waving Union Jacks or the tolling bells at Westminster.


Maybe it was because I remembered that six years ago today, I was in Britain and loving it.Maybe it's because I just finished David Copperfield again. I read that last page and just sat there, stunned and in awe.

Maybe it's because I get the same feeling when I listen to Dark Side of the Moon from beginning to end.

Or because we end each day watching a segment of Pride and Prejudice before bed.


Maybe it's from my recent annual viewing of Simon Shama's A History of Britain. I was doing my ironing while finishing the last episode (is my nerdiness overwhelming you? If so, please feel free to discontinue reading.) Anyway, I was just finishing the last episode and the camera was panning over the English Channel and I had to stop my chore and just sit down, feeling quite overcome by the weight of such monumental history. (Seriously, if you've read this far, you must have a high nerd tolerance.)

Maybe it's the knowledge that deep down and far back, that history is also my history.

Or maybe it's just all the hats.
Either way, I think the rest of the family is also feeling the pull from the other side of the Pond. In the recent weeks as morning and evening news broadcasts have been taken hostage by the minute details of the royal wedding, Roo would constantly complain indignantly, "Is there anyone who even cares about this stuff?!" Well, at some point between then and now, something--what I like to think of as The Spirit of Britannia--has settled upon Roo, working a mighty change. A few days ago he actually watched one of the many stories about the upcoming wedding and its participants, and since then he's been eager to keep up on all the details. He'd stop what he was doing in order to catch up on the latest news. He even spoke to some friends in England to get their take on the events. When I walked in on him one morning watching the news and getting his daily fill of royal wedding updates, he just looked up and said a guilty, "What?!"

This morning we watched the wedding highlights together and he even went into work a little later than usual so he could watch "the kiss" from the balcony. I love Roo! (He watches lots of hockey and action movies, too. I feel the need to reinforce his masculinity here...) Isn't he so handsome? Imagine him in a top hat!

And even as I was writing this blog post, Esmé was pulling books off the shelf and I looked up to find her flipping through this one. (The History of England Volume II). Seriously, this photo was not staged. She was just trying to get up to speed. Because maybe today, she wants to be a little British, too.