End-of-summer greetings! As I dig in for the LA version of fall (it’s currently in the 90’s here…), I’m further warmed by memories of my summertime travels! My last post covered London since I was there for all of my recent visit to England – all except for a short side trip to the nearby city of Tilbury:

I wanted to see the fort there which, from Henry VIII’s day, guarded against foreign invasion via the River Thames. When I realized I was alone at one point, I couldn’t resist reciting the speech Queen Elizabeth I was supposed to have given right there in 1588 to rally her troops against the coming Spanish Armada:

I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman,

But I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too!

Why was Tilbury my one non-London destination? Well, at the very heart (an appropriate word), it’s why I’ve often ended up learning new things and having unexpected and cool experiences over the years. It’s a little bit like the reason Anna Kendrick gives in Up in the Air for why she ditched a job opportunity in San Francisco to fire people for a living in Omaha:

“I followed a boy.”

Over my whole life, I’ve kinda done that. I don’t mean relationship-wise – and I’m too old to mean it in the social media “following” sense. Also, I swear I’ve never been a stalker! (Hm. Looking back to walks home in elementary school though, it’s true I stopped for drinks of water at this cute boy John’s house and then when he moved, my super-dehydrating route home changed accordingly. But that’s probably coincidence.) No, it’s more like my having a crush on some guy – usually from a distance of miles or time or stark reality – has led me to fascinating places I wouldn’t otherwise have known about or gone to! 

Okay so, crush-wise, I’ve generally been a serial monogamist. At age 10 after Mum took me to see Gone With the Wind, I developed a crush on Clark Gable and had a life-sized poster of him as Rhett Butler on my bedroom door. In junior high, I moved on to Shaun Cassidy – the most serious of my crushes, for sure. In high school it was Michael O’Keefe. And even while I was getting crushes on boys who were dateable, geographically desirable, and – you know – living, my heart still always seemed to have room to obsess about these other larger-than-my-own-life boys.

I’d like to say the Tilbury excursion was simply due to my love of history, especially the era of Elizabeth and Shakespeare. But the whole truth is that this particular passion had been nourished by another one. In college (after letting Mr. O’Keefe down easy), I went through a major Laurence Olivier phase during which I caught his film performance opposite wife-to-be, Vivien Leigh, in Fire Over England. It was also my introduction to the marvelous Flora Robson, who could expertly play a long-suffering servant in Wuthering Heights or, in this case, a regally feisty Elizabeth who inspires with that Tilbury speech (although she preferred to have a king’s “valor” rather than “stomach”). 

So when I was just a train ride away from indulging a fascination that began with one dreamy actor and went on to encompass a realm? I’d have thought it “foul scorn” not to do so!

Meanwhile, back where the rest of my recent adventures took place, I paused from theater-going and mudlarking to hit a familiar London address and give my regards to the Duke of Wellington:

On an earlier visit, I was awed by my tour of the estate of the man who historically got the better of Napoleon – and who amassed a museum’s worth of “thank you” gifts to prove it! So why was this impressive residence on my radar in the first place? Um…pretty much because before he was known as Boromir or Ned Stark, actor Sean Bean’s name was Sharpe (delivered in that wonderful accent of his) in a series of tv movies about a rugged English soldier, fighting and romancing his way through the Napoleonic Wars:

Look, I don’t want to give the impression that my only inspiration for ever doing a thing has been because of some movie actor. To be fair, I follow boys who act on stage as well! I planned a whole vacation in Eastern Canada completely around hearing the soulful voice of Colm Wilkinson in Phantom of the Opera in Toronto! Over the course of this totally-worth-it mission, I stopped in Quebec City and wandered down what some claim is the oldest street in North America, I toured Parliament in the capital city of Ottawa and, not least in importance, I got my first taste of poutine!

I should own that my overall experience of Toronto remains a bit skewed. Being a huge hockey fan, my second visit there was all about following boys who were the very best at going “top shelf where Momma hides the cookies”. That meant a pilgrimage to the Hockey Hall of Fame where my favorite Hall resident, Jari Kurri, has a place of honor – then lunch at Wayne Gretzky’s restaurant! (Sadly, I guess the restaurant is now gone…)

And no time on an Edmonton vacay with the folks could have been a great one without a stop by Gretzky’s statue at its old home in front of Northlands Coliseum:

Now that I think of it, athletes are definitely on the list of boys I’ve been known to follow. Again in fairness, boys with other talents are too. I once drove from California to Missouri because I was obsessed with Mark Twain! Can’t vouch for his slap shot, but the man sure knew how to polish a turn of phrase until it sparkled!

As I enter yet another (and admittedly advanced…) decade of boy following, I do wonder whether there’s a statute of limitations on what might be considered an immature pastime. Well, if dear Mum was any indication, I’d have to say that’s a “no”. We celebrated her 86th birthday at the Laguna restaurant of one of her favorite hockey playing boys – Teemu Selänne! He happened to be there and was gracious enough to stop by our table, chat a while and add his good wishes! The way Mum positively glowed that night is another event that warms my heart to this day…

So I’m gonna guess that crushes will keep factoring into my GPS headings for years to come. Yeah, it’s childish – but I do hope the curiosity and energy behind all those innocent flights of fancy will never quite be consigned to youth. And while I’ve been moved to – and been so very lucky to – explore the world for more reasonable reasons, it does tickle me whenever I recognize that some grand and enriching experience I’ve had is all the result of a crush!

Yup. Because of varying degrees of separation from a boy, I know the phrase, “dog in a bowling alley”. I’ve learned the significance of Waterloo beyond the ABBA canon. And I’ve stood atop a windswept, history-rich hill where, just for a moment when no one could see, I summoned up the heart and stomach of a king…

If that’s what can come of following one’s heart, it certainly works for me!

Cheers!

IYKYK (you know – that’s “if you know, you know”):