Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time (probably late 1968) two little princesses frolicked with their father (a commoner) on a beautiful beach on the island of Oahu. Elizabeth, the older princess, had been born in the kingdom of France in 1963. To tell the truth, France was a republic at that time governed by Charles de Gaulle, who undoubtedly thought he should have been a king. Anastasia, the younger princess, was born in 1967 in the kingdom of Hawaii. Well, it was no longer a kingdom then, and hadn’t been for some time. Hawaii had been admitted less than a decade earlier as the fiftieth state in the United States.

After a day enjoying sunshine and laughter in the breaking waves of the Pacific, the trio would return to their Queen Emma Gardens apartment in Honolulu for an early dinner. Then they’d settle in for a session of reading a good book. Raggedy Ann typically joined Princess Anastasia during the  engrossing time that Princess Elizabeth entertained us all with a grand fairy tale.

The princesses grew up, but they still share time with their father. In 2015 they came to Nevada, the magical land of never-ending entertainment, to assist in The Iron Horse Chronicles’ book signing event held at the South Point Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Beth, standing to my right, is dressed as Jenny McNabb, a principal character in my historical, frontier trilogy. Stacy, to my left, is wearing more traditional western wear.