When Friends Ask you
(click) Queen Rhonda and Queen Emma at April 2007 Coronation. Queen Jennifer, our most recently discovered and Coronated Queen and Her Friend, Cecelia at Alligator Soul, one of our Favorite Savannah restaurants.
If you are being asked all about the MJQs or if some charming, stylish, fun-loving lady says, “So, I hear you are one of those Mint Julep Ladies.” Sweetly correct her. “Queens. Mint Julep Queens.” Then she may ask all about us. My answers are as simple or as complex as I feel like being at the moment. I can yammer on about dress-up time, flouncing about, being outrageous and re-invention of public perception. Re-naming your own archetype or taking ownership of that part of yourself that allows for self assuredness and extravagant re-birthing as The Queen, The Goddess, The Celestial Mother is fun and empowering. When I am really on a roll, I can even launch into a comparison and discussion of ”Women Who Run with the Wolves” by Clarissa Estes. It’s a great book about divine and mythical archetypes, wild women, maidens and mothers, old crones and diva types. (I recommend that you take note and when I start up with all that mess, it’s a good time to excuse yourself and go to the bar for another.)
Given opportunity and enough libation I will, and have, held forth on the joy of creating little moments that make my life and lives of my unknown subjects more enriched, or at the very least more memorable. Like the time a little girl, no more than 3 years old was the only child cramed onto one of those tour trolleys rolling down the streets of Savannah with guide and adults all focused on architecture, history and the Southern stories that haunt this city. She looked up to see me sashaying out across the street to place a child-size tiara on her head, which by the way is a ritual I have every Coronation. (If I don’t give away at least one tiara, I see it as a a bad omen for the future reign of the MJQs.) The grown-ups smiled and took pictures as she grinned and insisted that I was “Belle” from “Beauty and the Beast.” Having placed the jewels in her brown curls, I told her that she was indeed a pricess and that I was so glad to have found her. She had forgotten her tiara and I had come to give it to her. Then I swished off into the sunset, self-satisfied that I had made that girl’s Savannah tour an event she would not forget. And if she does forget, her parents have loads of picutres to remind her.
Well, that type of little moment is one of the things I love. Not to mention hanging out with friends, dressing up, having a drink, and not worrying about a darn thing, but how can I arrogantly think a tiara and mere greeting from me matters to anyone. Maybe I wish that I had those kind of memories and maybe I am projecting my own desires, wishes, and regrets of childhood and adolence onto that simple experience.
Queen Emma and I had a memorable meeting at the last Coronation. Emma had gone to the powder room and a pretty, slight brunette told her with a smile, “I love your crown. I am so jealous.”
Emma responded in typical Queenly fashison, “You don’t need to be jealous of me. You need to buy yourself a tiara and wear it. It’s so much fun.” The admirer said, “Oh, I never could do that.” She left with a smile and a nod to Emma and returned to her friends at the other end of the bar.
As the night unfolded, we decided to give her the tiara I had brought for just such a purpose. Obviuosly she wanted one, which is the first sign that you may already be a Queen. Emma and I went over to three ladies and found out the lady with crown-envy was there with her friend and her friend’s mother. Ladies Night. We gave the taira to her and she beamed. “This is one of the nicest things that anyone has done for me.” Her friend then gave me a cool, super-size ring so I can offer select subjects the chance to “kiss the ring.” I refused the kind gift and said it was just too much. She assured me it was a Steinmart piece and I could accept it without reservation, which I did. Very Pretty ring, plus a bargin. Love that.
So the moral of this story is that being part of the MJQs and being a Queen can be whatever you want it to be. Personally, most of the time the Mint Julep Queens are just pure fun and a chance to play dress-up. But sometimes, the fun can mean a tad bit more…