she is decades younger and centuries older than i am.

her grade school christmas wish in 1967 was “happy birthday Jesus!”

she soothed a dying man’s passage. but for her he would have died uncomforted and utterly alone.

she made the nightly news for her comment after finishing the Phoenix 10K. Asked how she manages to finish such grueling races, she cheerily replied, “i just get right behind a good-looking guy.”

she is a fierce pickleball player and a friendly scrabble player. she seems to revel in well-made movies with graphic and realistic violence. I had no idea she carried such bloodlust in her until i went with her to see the northman.

of all the astonishing things she has done, she seems proudest that she is the mother of her son.

in my world there have been four Queen Elizabeths. two were queen of england, one portrayed cleopatra queen of the nile, and my beloved friend, whose friendship i have cherished for most of my life, is the queen of Kindness.

long live the Queen!