When was the last time I went for a stroll down Memory Lane?  This thought floated across Pirouette’s consciousness just as the midwife shouted, “Push, your Majesty! Push!” As this was the Queen’s third experience with full-blown labor pains, one might try to suspect that she would be (at least somewhat) accustomed to it. Nothing could be further from the truth. While her beauty was great, the sharpness of her intellect was even greater. Instead of concentrating on the task at hand, her mind raced with disjointed thoughts and memories.

A particularly acute series of contractions caused Pirouette to reminisce on the last time she was confined to the bed by labor pains. That was when she delivered her second daughter, Pirouette the Younger. While all did their best to convince her that this baby would be the long-awaited son, she knew better than even to hope. If the child lived at all, she would be grateful for that. Herself the sole survivor of her mother’s first five pregnancies, the Queen thanked God that both of her daughters were strong and healthy. If this one was a girl, she would be perfectly happy with that.

I’m Queen in my own right. Any daughter of mine can be Queen in her own right as well.

Pirouette, December 13, 2019. You can tell that this one was taken with my cell phone. I’ve done something to the settings. The flash never deploys anymore. I’m tempted to hit the reset button, but that would erase all of my contacts. What a world! What a world! My choice of the first photograph comes from two factors. It was taken the same day as Pirouette’s and I always find horses to be picturesque, the stuff of nostalgia.