British period dramas. I adore those movies! Give me hoop skirts, gowns, and bonnets. Give me manors, castles, and moors. Give me afternoon teas, letter readings, balls, and musical soirees. And above all, give me poetic, articulate, intelligent language!
My affinity for these types of movies (and novels) has raised this wonderment: perhaps I was born in the wrong century? (That would also explain my disdain for driving and my lack of tech-y skills.) Perhaps I was dropped into history in 1976, when the correct time address should have been 1876. Perhaps I would have flourished then, and would have felt like a fish in the ocean instead of a fish in a plasic cup at a carnival.
When I envision myself in 1800's England, I am wearing an exquisite gown of palest silk. I have just sipped a perfect cup of Earl Grey while discussing the evening's upcoming ball. And said ball will include a long curving staircase, of which a dashing suitor will be waiting at the bottom. He will request all the dances on my dance card, but I will need to refuse due my mistaking his principle and character for pompousness. Several months later, after 5 articulate, impassioned conversations, all confusion will be cleared up and he will, of course, offer his hand in marriage. His grand manor, called Sturbridge Downs, awaits us, as does a life of refined fulfillment.
Pleasant, yes? I think so.
Until I remind myself of a few easy-to-overlook facts.
Like the fact the I always assume I would have been aristocracy, when most Brits of my preferred century were impoverished sufferers.
And the fact that I, as a woman, would have been denied an education, a career, the right to vote, the right to own property, and the dignity of being considered more than a decorative object who bears babies.
Add to that this prevailing belief, summed up so well on my lastest obession "Downton Abbey": "When you are single you do not have an opinion, and when you marry, your husband will tell you what your opinion is."
Um. Okay. That changes things a bit.
I have a master's degree. I have had 2 different careers that have fulfilled me. I got married because I wanted to, to a man I loved and was compatible with. I had a child because I wanted to. My name is on the deed to my house. I vote. It is considered socially acceptable for me to state my opinions and thoughts, and even expected that I will.
(On top of all this, I have cool make up. Inconsequential, perhaps, but very fun and very enhancing to a woman of little pigment. Just another blessing I would have been denied in my preferred century.)
So in summary, is there a part of my heart that longs for a time and culture I'll never know? Yes. A small part. But the greater part of my heart is grateful, so grateful, that of all the places and times God could have dropped me into existence, He chose this age and this country. Oprah has said that those of us women born in this age and this country are the luckiest women in history, and I heartily concur with that!
And I'll content myself by filling up that small, yearning part of my heart with movies....
