Health knowledge made personal
 From age 7 on, I became obsessed with Anne Boleyn and all things Henry VII after seeing Anne of the Thousand Days with Richard Burton and Geneviève Bujold...my grandfather bought me every book on Tudor England and the rest of the monarchy (including the Diana Decades, but I digress) Every night before bed I would gather my hair up on my head and exclaim into my mirror "OH, I have such a tiny neck"...which wasn't really the case, but my mirror was magic...and if my mom was gone, I would steal one of her long white nightgowns for my death robes and recite Anne's death speech... "Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, according to law, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I come here only to die, and thus to yield myself humbly to the will of the King, my lord. And if, in life, I did ever offend the King’s Grace, surely with my death, I do now atone. I come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that whereof I am accused, as I know full well that aught I say in my defense doth not appertain to you. I pray and beseech you all, good friends, to pray for the life of the King, my sovereign lord and yours, who is one of the best princes on the face of the earth, who has always treated me so well that better could not be, wherefore I submit to death with good will, humbly asking pardon of the world. If any person will meddle with my cause, I require them to judge the best. Thus, I take my leave of the world, and of you, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. "* And then I would place my head on a stack of St. Louis phone books for the chopping block and wait for the swordsman to send my head tumbling into the basket that was held by my ladies in waiting. I thought the telephone books added a much more dramatic touch, although I know that Anne knelt with her head held high, in the French fashion. I embellish. Meh. Afterwards, I would climb into bed and cry about poor Anne and her little daughter, left behind. And I hated that awful Jane Seymour and I was glad she died in childbirth. Oh, I was a wretched messed up little girl... However, I think it has laid quite the foundation for my slightly twisted and sarcastic, yet loving personality that I currently possess. Although, I am sure Evan would just say I am flat out still twisted. *Anne Boleyn |
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