Dear Elizabeth…Merry Christmas with love from the Land of the Unexpected!

Weekender
CHRISTMAS
A recent picture of the widowed 95-year old Queen Elizabeth II. – Pictures borrowed.

By NATURE’S CORRESPONDENT
CHRISTMAS is a special time of the year where the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated throughout the Christian world.
Even others who do not follow the Christian calendar also celebrate and enjoy the festivities that Christmas brings with it. But that is for the Western world where big things happen. Really big, I mean. They spend big money too.
For us Melanesians, Christmas is another time to take a break from work, attend to church activities, spend time with family and friends, some very dysfunctional, but to forgive, forget and carry on. Blood is thicker than water they say, so, we just take it from there hoping for the best and brighter things in life in the New Year.
Okay, back to the reason why I wanted to write this note. It is because I wanted to send Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II my Christmas wishes. I cannot help it but remember that apart from her being the Queen, Her Majesty is a great grandmother, a grandmother and a mother. Not only that, she is the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, and Head of the Commonwealth so she is Our Queen too.
The Land of the Unexpected is amongst the Commonwealth of Nations that were once under the British Empire and so I feel very much part of the Commonwealth group of people too. Personally this has served me very well. I have had many advantages in my travels across the globe. But that said, I also realise that the Gracious Queen has really come of age.
Well, going back to my humble beginnings, I had my first encounter with this beautiful princess from so far away in a rural school in the mountains. Since then, I took a curious interest in the Queen and the Royal family.
I first saw her portrait hanging in the headmaster’s “office.” The portrait was just above his working table in the box office in this bush material classroom where I went to school with my cousins and other children from the neighbouring tribes. The headmaster, who at the time happened to be my father, often sent me to this office to collect his work books, his stationeries or things he forgot to take with him back to our house.
When that opportunity came, I would invite my cousins to come with me to my father’s office to spend a couple of minutes to admire and touch the young queen’s coronation portrait until my father would whistle to let me know that I had taken much more time than expected. We would flee like he was after us with his kanda; my cousins quickly dashing out of the office and running off to our village, and me back to the “mission house.”
From there onwards, that portrait became etched into my memory and she became part of my education. The queen’s beautiful regal face left an indelible print on my mind. As I grew up, progressed in my education I followed her life service and became so interested in her family life and what she was up to in the Commonwealth and my country too.
Whilst my rural life continued, my new interest in the young queen grew too. My life was not going to be the same as my mother’s and my grandmother’s. Life went on and, being the eldest in the family, I spent the better part of my growing up with my maternal grandparents.
I had a very close bond with my grandmother; and she had a tremendous influence on my life in all the ways of being a village girl. There was never a dull moment, except so much love and so many hugs. Every day we hugged. She showed me how to make bilums, build sweet potato mounds, cook food, look after our pigs, our pet cassowaries, dogs, chickens including a spotted cuscus that my grandfather built a cage for.
At the same time, I grew up and out of my rural school and entered high school. Over those years, I grew into a young adult, left high school in the Waghi valley and found myself travelling from the comfort of my mountain village, across the Bismarck Sea to Kerevat National High School in East New Britain.
As I was growing up, my grandmother was growing old. The last time I saw her was when she and my mother came to K-town to see me off on my first Air Niugini flight to Rabaul.
My second year in Kerevat was dreadful. My heart used to skip a beat when receiving letters from my father. There were no mobile phones in the 80s so all communication was through written letters. As far as breaking news went, those letters were late by weeks.

The young queen after her coronation on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey.

One day, my whole world came tumbling down. I received a letter from dad that my grandmother had passed away two weeks ago. I read that she was buried at the family cemetery in our village. I was devastated. I knew I would return to an empty house when I returned home for Christmas holidays. I could only see her grave.
Still missing grandma
It has been so long ago now, but I still miss her.
Recently I became a grandmother; and I am beginning to realise how and why we were close. And how and why my mother also dotted on my boys too. What I realised was life’s natural cycle. And so, going to school was purposeful after I saw my grandmother’s grave after returning home from Rabaul. I progressed onto university the next year.
My childhood curiosity continued on with the life of the princess and her family. By then her children had grown up, got married and had children. The beautiful princess also got older; and became a grandmother. In more recent times her grandchildren became adults, had their own children so she became a great grandmother too. My affection rubbed off onto my small clan; and we all made Her Majesty our great grandmother too.
In the last decade communication progressed onto the next level where every second, live streams of world events including that of the Queen and Royal family continuously enter our lives, homes, offices and everywhere, via podcasts, You Tube, news channels, TV channels and blogs too so we have been massively struck by information overload.
This year has also been a year where Her Majesty has had to cope with so much adverse publicity on the monarchy and some royals in the family. That was too much unnecessary stress and anxiety. With her husband, the late Prince Phillip gone, I had this feeling that she too might not make it to Christmas this year.
I grew up watching her over those years of her reign, and so I became shaken. I have become vigilant lately without realising that the first thing I do every morning is to check my emails and the Daily Mail Online. I don’t know! It’s a spontaneous reflex of mine.
At 95 years of age she is still working. Not everyone can do what she continues to do. That beautiful young princess, who at 25 years of age became queen, pledged her young life forever to a life of service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and its allies.
Her Majesty is truly a remarkable lady. We shall never see another one like her in a thousand years to come.
An unwritten law
There is a natural law in our unwritten Melanesian customs. We are bound by our customs to treat our great grandparents, our parents and other older people in our families, our villages, and communities or older people we meet in our lives with care and love. This takes utmost precedence over our own egos and ambitions and self-interests.
We are bound by this unwritten law never to upset abuse or insult, mistreat, make older people feel sorry for themselves and unloved. That is very important and has always been in our Melanesian culture since time immemorial. We are who we are because of them. Tomorrow they will not be with us.
If that is abused, we are told that Nature always serves out justice and reimburses what you are owed in the way you treat older generation. Some experiences in my life, especially with my own grandparents have told me that these conversations are in some way, shape or form true.
We are told that, once you see the sun, moon and the stars, you are an adult and not a child anymore. Do not complain, whine, moan, groan, and growl but get on with life.
During this Christmas season, give two big hugs and lots of love to your parents, grandparents and any older person in your family. They might not be around next Christmas.
So, this Christmas, I also want to send Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II two big hugs and wish her and the Royal family in UK a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year with lots of love from the Land of the Unexpected!

  • The author has requested the use of a pen-name