‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?’ Not On Your Low-Key Life

This morning as I sit in my garden and watch the sunlight shadow the leaves, I think, “Thank God, I’m just a commoner.”

Here I sit, drinking my coffee, wearing my faded nightshirt, my hair uncombed, left to enjoy the sweetness of the hour. No telephoto lenses peer over the fence at me.

I get my photo taken only every three years at the Department of Motor Vehicles. They never get the light right, or the good side. Gads, that picture is ghastly. Where’s People Magazine when I need them?

With millions of dollars, Princess Diana could not buy peace and quiet. Granted, she never had to worry about doctor’s bills and which Hamburger Helper to cook for dinner. But she did have to worry about terrorists kidnapping her sons and idiot photographers trying to capture her in the wrong light. Having to be pretty 24 hours a day can be hell on Earth.

It was expected. Protocol. Morning dresses, afternoon dresses, dinner dresses. Do this and most assuredly don’t do that. Every day of the year.

Now, I wear my share of makeup and get dressed for work. But when I get home, on go the shorts and T-shirt. There it is - my afternoon dress and dinner dress all rolled up into one. I can go to the store and work in the yard, and generally be oblivious to my looks. Money can’t buy that!

If you really want fame and fortune, you give up all the things that we hold so dear. For one, the purely simple thing of being us, free to look poor. I don’t have to play dress-up every day. I don’t have to worry about someone taking my money - except the IRS, and that is April’s worry.

In my home, I am the queen. I am mom. I get kisses for baking chocolate chip cookies and cheers for restocking the toilet paper holder.

Every day, I feed the hungry - the kids, the husband, the dogs, the goldfish and the parakeets. I do the laundry. I do the gardening and mow the lawn. And, at the end of the day, I take my bow as I kiss their faces good night.

If Diana had had her druthers, she probably would have wanted to be a simple mom. But she had to wear the princess outfit every day. Now, she has broken from her cocoon and she can be free to fly.

As for me, this caterpillar is going to get another cup of coffee and hope the neighbors don’t see me waddle back to the house. Oh well, who cares? For that is the beauty of my world. Smile, Jean, and thank God you are not on candid camera.

MEMO: Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a Your Turn column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write Your Turn, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615.