I have read mine and a few other people's share of the gossip of Harry and Meghan in the wake of Queen Elizabeth's passing. Apparently Camilla snorted her tea when Harry suggested family counseling. The story made me realize a lot of the news of the royal family are sheer fabrications. Not that I haven't snorted some tea. It just happens so rarely as you mature. And who would have shared that tidbit? If you are having a royal family row, you really need to be able to trust the help that are within earshot.

Harry is following the path of many second and third sons who moved to North America to make a life of their own. Sadly, feeding the best bits to the first born and leaving nothing to the second and third born is unfair. I can see why such a book would sell. It is the sort of book that you would snort your tea when you consider the wisdom of writing it. 

There is a sadness to family problems. Everyone who has any family has them. In my income level, people air their dirty laundry on Facebook or Twitter for free.. I've never read any of the royal  biographies unless you count the Beatles. If I had a better memory you would be impressed with what information I have uncovered about the Fab Four. 

Long ago I had a friend who came from a prominent family. According to her, no one had mental illness, no one was an alcoholic, no one was developmentally delayed. No one had packed the family up to move with that night's dinner a live chicken being held in a paper bag on grandma's knee.. Her family was indeed exceptional. Everyone was a professional with college degrees. 

In Georgia, most of the people of Scottish descent are related. When they settled Georgia, the Scots had like 15 children and those 15 children had their 15. Eventually, it was hard to avoid a cousin. Anyone new to the region had a suitor. This friend had an aunt that did geneology. We were there connected to her. In the back of my mind, I thought loudly, well you just did not know your family well enough. I am kin to some wonderful accomplished people with feet of clay. 

My mother passed in her sleep in the early morning hours of December 24th, I can understand why King Charles was particular who came to the death of Queen Elizabeth. There is no handbook in how to handle death, grief or confusion about what you should or should not do.  Being a monarch does not shield you from death and it's processes. There are some things best left unshared. 

Usually my mother was rather quiet as she conversed with all of us living and dead. It was like dreaming out loud. Mom had stopped eating about two weeks ago. But she loved her ice water. I woke up around 3:30 am and realized there had been no request for ice water. At first I thought she was sleeping. I got up to check her. As much as I knew what had happened, there is disbelief. I sat down before rechecking my mother. Initially I was going to wait until daybreak to call hospice. Our well had frozen and I needed to hook up the heater in the well house. 

At 5:30 am I called hospice for the on call nurse to come out and pronounce my mother dead. I woke up my siblings and they gathered before the nurse came. There was some tears. We are having a hard freeze like most of the rest of the country. My dad passed during an unusual snow and hard freeze on December 18, 2000. My sister had a birthday yesterday and I suspect that is what my mother had waited on.

By daybreak. My mother had been pronounced dead. I helped the nurse get my mother cleaned up. As the nurse tied up details with paperwork, I went outside to put a heater in my well house. The nurse told me goodbye in the backyard. The funeral home would be by within an hour. After my mother was taken, I checked the well house. The well did not unthaw until the afternoon. It could have been earlier. I went to sleep after cooking dinner. We did not have water until after I woke up around 4 PM.                                                                                                                                                    

For Harry and Meghan, it is not that their trials and tribulations are unimportant. It is more that they have been blessed with a lot in their lives. They are in the right country. Personally, I think it would be really cool for Archie or Lillibet to grow up to become President or Secretary of State and their first cousin be King. I was disappointed to read there is a conspiracy theory connected to that. Some folks know how to ruin all of the fun. 

When I was a child, I was glad Prince Charles was not married. After reading the blue book of fairy tales, the red book of fairy tales and the green book of fairy tales in second grade it was a very real possibilty that he would marry me. The original fairy tales could be much darker stories than what Disney sells. In the original story of the Little Mermaid, the Little Mermaid is turned to sea foam. As ridiculous as the idea that a young American girl would grow up and marry the future King of England was. You would think the ominous nature of some of fairy tales would have given me caution. 

One thing I plan to do after my mother's funeral is to write down as many of her stories she has shared with me during my life. The title tenatively is, "Have I told you how I met my husband." I don't plan to publish it. These are ordinary stories of an ordinary life. We all have stories. Some of them more tragic than others.

Then I will tackle an inept person who gets carried away with conspiracy theories in one of the stories I have been working on. . 

Conspiracy theories are darker than fairy tales.The conspiracy theories I have heard have more plot holes and are a bit more far fetched than the average fairy tale. I always have more ideas on stories than I could really write or anyone could write. But a conspiracy spoof parady or a character that gets real excited over a conspiracy theory. Have him (you know a woman would not be that stupid "Ha" just kidding) go on a Don Quixote type mission inspired by his theory. Then, he does something really good accidentally and the conspiracy theory falls to dust by the conclusion. 

Meanwhile, have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah. Yule, Bodhi,  Dimwali this December holiday season brings. The New Year is nigh.