I wrote to The Queen to let her know how much I enjoyed the television documentary "Elizabeth R." I didn't write this part, but at one point, it was particularly touching. In a grand room, Queen Elizabeth sat alone, eating dinner on a TV tray. Just like the rest of us. (Or some of us.)
It reminded me of a retort my father gave me about President Kennedy. I must have been going on and on about how I idolized him. (We happened to be learning about idols in Sunday school.) To bring it down and humanize it, Daddy said, "Remember, Bonni: even President Kennedy makes a poop every day." (The profundity of that message silenced this curious six-year-old.)
Among the many personalized letters I have are those from Jimmy Stewart, Robert Goulet, Isaac Asimov, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Diana, Helen Hayes, and more. There is also one from Jacqueline Kennedy, but it is to my father. He wrote her something about Mr. Kennedy's campaign.
"Your thoughts on the campaign are most interesting and I know my husband will give them every consideration," she wrote.
What can I say? We write letters in my family. Like father, like daughter.