I remember phoning a friend in England as soon as I heard the news.
I remember being shaken - disbelieving - wanting to speak to someone "there" who would tell me that the American reporters had it all wrong.
My friend seemed in a state of shock as he repeated the news to me in the way in which we say the unbelievable aloud to convince ourselves that it's true.
"What's really incredible," he said, "is the outpouring of emotion. Everyone you pass by on the street is weeping. There are flowers everywhere in London."
"It's as if," he said, with that wry, British humor "we all went to bed stiff-upper-lipped Englishmen and awoke to find that we had all become Sicilian."
Of all the ways I want to remember the Princess of Wales, it is in the image of this rose. It was developed and bred just for her from the genus ROSA, the family ROSACEAE, a Hybrid Tea Rose.
Of the comments listed about this flower, it is said that "it is relatively easy to grow, has a huge bloom, and lasts forever in the vase."
That just about says it all, doesn't it?
Diana, Princess of Wales, a hybrid tea rose whose life and legacy will bloom forever in our hearts.
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And I didn't hear about it until Sunday morning ... when I was sitting in the chancel at St.Mark's, Altadena half way through an 8am service I was only half awake through and we got to the prayers of the people and the lay reader prayed "for all the departed, especially Diana, Princess of Wales" ... and I said "WHAT??!!!"
Not one of my finer liturgical moments but a moment of genuine shock followed by grief and a deep, deep sadness for a life too soon ended.
"It's as if," he said, with that wry, British humor "we all went to bed stiff-upper-lipped Englishmen and awoke to find that we had all become Sicilian."
I love that, Elizabeth. Thanks for giving us your friend's words.
The rose is a lovely memorial to the life and death of Diana.
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