A Very Nice Girl

"Her Majesty's a very nice girl..." Wasn't that a line from the Beatles' charming little ditty tucked in between the tracks of the White Album? Anyway, it came back to me last night as I watched the public television special on the royal activities. A very nice old lady now. I am astounded by her vigor, and her patience with the rigors of a life that demands so much. And--readers famliar with The Buddha Diaries will be as surprised to read this as I am to write it--did I catch a fleeting response of, er, patriotism, in this skeptical old soul? Nah. Maybe just nostalgia. And a recognition of the value of ritual in our lives.