Yes, yes I did. I watched the coronation live. I couldn’t wait for any replays or highlights.
I wasn't sure how to best prepare for coverage that started at 2:00 am; try to sleep a few hours and get up prior to the event, or just stay up until coverage began? I decided to nap and set my alarm for 1:30 am so I was prepared at 1:45 to welcome a dear friend who came to watch with me.
It's not the first time I'd gotten up at weird hours for something like this. When the Olympics were in Australia, or any time they are hosted in Asia, the viewing schedule is brutal. I've gotten up at unseemly hours for soccer, curling and hockey, not to mention previous royal events like weddings and funerals.
So there I was in my favorite viewing chair flanked by my royal book display (I know, I just keep getting more and more cool, don't I?), and near a table filled with fruit, tea and English shortbread thanks to my husband who set it all up before he went to bed Friday. No, he didn't watch. Supplying us with food to get us through the night was his contribution!
I love doing stuff like this; the out of the ordinary, the once-in-a-lifetime, and in this instance, the historically significant. If there’s an event somewhere that’s unusual or a one-off, I'm there.
I get it from my dad. When speed skating championships were being held on a brutally cold day in the Queen City, he made sure we went because "when are we going to get a chance to see this again?"
He would be sure to stop at points of interest or significant landmarks on road trips. I'm sure part of it was to get us out of the car for a while, but the other was the lesson represented by a marker of some kind. How far would he drive so we could see a unique rock formation or unusual waterfall; a solar energy station or a mud hut? As far as needed.
When our daughters were competing in high school sports, a conversation in the bleachers one day focused on the miles parents were driving for basketball that season. I don't remember the final calculation but one parent was clearly irritated. His wife gently reminded him of the miles they put on following their hockey player son a few years earlier. Clearly one held more value than the other. He quickly pointed out it was the activity he favored, not the child!
We have prized resources at our disposal. Yes, our money is a big one. But so is our time. How we spend that reflects our priorities, our responsibilities and…our interests. So how I choose to spend my time will be different than the decisions you make about yours.
How many dollars and hours would you invest to get to a football game? A book fair? A wedding? A farmer's market? A worship service? Your answer will be reflective of what matters most. We make time for the things that are important to us—and far less time for what isn't.
Which takes me back to the coronation and why I was excited to be up through the night watching what I could easily have caught later. Simply put: because I enjoyed it. My interest in history and the monarchy runs deep and for me this was one of those moments I wanted to witness as it was happening. It was time I was eager to spend doing something that mattered…to me.
You won’t see me crawling out of bed to get lined up outside a big box retailer on Boxing Day or doing a polar bear swim on New Year’s Day, or any other day for that matter. But you might do that and that is fantastic.
When it comes to our money, we have choices to make. My husband and I have spent a lot on trips to get our picture taken with a cartoon mouse. It mattered to us to make those memories with our girls. Others wouldn’t consider spending those dollars on that. They have other things that matter to them. This is as it should be.
When it comes to our time, we have equally important choices to make. Our opportunity to make decisions about how we spend it makes us privileged indeed.
If it’s an international sports event, an early flight to a favorite spot, or a moment in history that interests me, it is time I am eager to devote. So whether it’s a turn at tennis, traveling to see toucans or tantalized by tiaras, if it matters to you, it matters. That’s my outlook.
