Ten years ago (approximately) I was sitting at my friend Amy's house with her husband Jason. We were watching Dante's Peak. Because of this, we did not hear the initial announcement of Princess Diana's death.
But when the movie ended and we turned back to regular tv, life changed. We watched for awhile longer then I left, listening to the radio all the way from Fargo back to my parents' house in Fergus. I turned on the tv and watched it all night long. That was the first of my all-night-tragic-event watching (the second being 9/11 and the third being the 35W bridge collapse).
I watched Diana's wedding in my pajamas with popcorn and my mom when I was five years old. I watched her funeral from the front desk of the Archer House in Northfield where I was a clerk in college. Everywhere inbetween I kept track of what she was doing, her kids, her bulimia, her life. Her beauty was and is unparalleled, and in this age women like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, who have been showing since they were 19 that they have no respect for anything, make me long for the innocence of a nineteen year old princess.
Diana died far too young, and apparently at a time when she was the happiest she had ever been. She showed that no one is immune from death's hand, and that it is so important to savor every moment and not dwell on unhappy times.
Diana, you are a princess and have always been one, regardless of whatever titles are given or taken away. Your impact on women of my generation was extraordinary; you taught us how a Lady should behave.
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