Good Bye Downton Abbey

So what did you do last night? Maybe I'm not the only one going through some sort of withdrawal symptoms from Sunday nights' entertainment by the Crawley family and servants, so I thought I'd have a little farewell blog party right here. Reminiscing on what it may be that has ten million viewers fascinated with a show that takes us back one hundred years, I come up with several of my own reasons.

First of all, what intrigues me most is that, although life is very different for both aristocrats and servants from what any of us know today,  deep down they deal with the same relationship issues and feelings we do today. And I'm attracted to the way they deal with these and each other using manners and respect. It's Granny's poise and honest one liners that had me laughing in disbelief, and yet, you knew that when it came down to it, she just cared enough to speak the truth. I think back to the time when she found out about Edith's out-of-wedlock pregnancy and how she supported her with love and grace. I laughed when she said, "It's a grandmother's job to interfere." With so much of life behind her, she was wise and, in her estimation, never wrong. When accused of hating the feeling of being wrong, she simply stated, "I wouldn't know. I'm not familiar with the sensation." And spoken the way she said it, even that sounded almost friendly. I also loved Anna, the way she served lady Mary, but mostly for her undying love and support for her husband through much hardship. And then Lady Edith, who struggled through so much insecurity and yet came out shining as gold, choosing to be honest, rather than possibly claiming her position and happiness in a deceitful manner.

Another aspect that had me hooked was the aura of splendor in how they dressed and dined as a family. Coming from the era where seafarer jeans, mini skirts and hippie dresses were the style when I was a young lady, I have loved the array of beautiful dresses that I would wish to just try on and wear for an evening. There is a certain feminine aspect that has gone in other directions since that time, but whenever there was some lace to be had, I've been in. . . . even when dresses sported big shoulder pads.

And one more personal draw in watching this family live out life, quite comfortably without our modern day conveniences, made me think about my own grandmother who was born into a wealthy family in 1907. Her family operated a family business that invented and sold farm equipment. They owned several factories and employed hundreds of workers in Russia.  How often, as I watched, I wondered how this show would compare to what she experienced in her early childhood home with servants quarters, a shiny black mahogany piano to play and beautiful cars with leather seats, to say nothing of all that I never thought to ask her about.

Although Downton Abbey is a fictional story, the characters have come to take a place in our hearts as we saw them with all of their flaws and idiosyncrasies become transparent and help us understand and love them for who they are. Something we can apply to all whom we interact with in daily life.