Our Majesties…
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I can’t remember who I said it to the other day but, it seems like every single day the news reports the passing of someone in the public eye. I can’t remember a time that there was so many so frequently crossing over. Am I just more aware of death or, is it literally really happening in greater numbers and at a greater speed? I wonder…
This past week, on the 8th of September 2022, the world learnt of the passing of a much loved and respected lady, Queen Elizabeth. What a life, what a sacrifice, what a journey, what a woman.
Day after day and hour after hour I’ve seen mountains of flowers, rivers of tears, choruses of “God save the Queen” and tribes of people coming together to mourn and celebrate her life. The countless days of 24/7 TV & radio coverage of the Queens passing sparked some thoughts and raised some questions for me.
Why do “we” spend so much time mourning so deeply and celebrating so grandly someone most of “us” had never met? Most of “us” have not and would “not” do the same for a loved one we have grown up with ALL of our lives so…why do it for a stranger?
I understand that some of “us” feel like “we” know these strangers because they are in the public eye however, it really does baffle me that so many of “us” dedicate majority of “our” attention and time to those “we” have never met when those right there by our side, those “we” say we love get a fraction of our time.
Our Majesties…are our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our aunties, our wives, our grandmothers, our nieces, our friends…they are OUR Queens.
Celebrate them IN life, they are here NOW! Why do “we” consistently choose to wait until they are sick, dying or dead to give them our time and show them (and those around them) how much we love/d them?! How many more people do “we” need to loose before we realise that tomorrow is not guaranteed…the time is NOW.
Unfortunately, some of my very own Majesties are no longer Earthside and unfortunately, when they were alive many years ago I did not have the mind I do today. This means I did not honour them as they deserved to be honoured and for that, I am sorry.
My Majesties are those woman who have shaped me, who together helped me become Roberta Lettieri. My Majesties have conquered many dreams, gone through depression & anxiety, navigated rough seas for 3 months to start a new life across the world, set up and ran successful businesses, been verbally, physically and mentally abused, given birth, travelled the world, cheated death, won many hearts, spoke many languages, buried their own children, gave up their dreams to help others achieve their own, raised families & kept them together, ate the “uneatable” so their kids would not go hungry, sustained themselves financially and…loved unconditionally amongst a million of other things.
My Majesties are…
Eliana Regina Lettieri
My mother.
Indyara Lettieri Pereira
My daughter.
Maria Carmela Lettieri
My paternal grandmother.
Yeda Juliana Gomes Stimamilio
My maternal grandmother.
Rosemari Stimamilio Menna
My auntie & godmother.
Ida de Moraes Gomes
My great grandmother.
Zilda Lettieri
My auntie.
Yes, men too need and should be acknowledged and honoured and, I have many men I am grateful for who also contributed to me being who I am today. Today however is all about the handful of woman who’ve in one way or another shaped me, who Earthside or not continue to guide me on my journey through life.
Oh…there is one last person I’d like to mention. A woman who I couldn’t possibly leave out of this family tribe of Majesties, that woman is…me.
Roberta Lettieri
Me!
My Majesties, to you I curtsey. My heart exploding with gratitude and love for everything you did and continue to do…thank you from the bottom of my soul for living what you did and being who you were/are Earthside and beyond.
With Kindness,
