This rant goes out to Buckingham Palace on behalf of Catherine Masters, my Great Grandmother, and every other dear soul who lives long enough to have birthdays in the triple digits!!! In case you haven't heard, Catherine Masters is the 109 year old great grandmother who sent a letter of complaint to the Queen of England after receiving the fifth identical birthday card from her.

She received a letter from the palace AND a visit from Prince William in person, expressing his apology and that of his grandmother. Sounds sweet right?

So why am I ranting?!!! I'm ranting because I'm seriously wondering if the staff at the palace belong in a nursing home - are they senile? They wrote not so much an apology, as an explanation, telling Mrs. Masters that they change the picture on the card every five years and that next year she'd get a different one!!!!! Well la-dee-duh! She can look forward to another five of those! Did they miss, next year she'll be 110!!!!!! Make an effort here! I mean how many people even live to see 100 or a card from the Queen, who by the way only sends cards to her subjects once they become centurians, so don't get your hopes up just yet.  I mean really, we're they counting on dear Catherine not making it to 101 and thereby not being found out as the cheapskates that they were? What about when she turned 102? Were they just crossing their fingers she wouldn't make it to 103 and finally call them out? Or were they secretly hoping she was senile and wouldn't even notice or remember for that matter. What on earth were they banking on when they sent her the 5th identical card marking her 109th Birthday?!!!!!!! Did they somehow believe these cards were from Hogwarts down the road and had a numbing, amnesia effect on their recipients?! Really, if the Queen of England can't afford to send a new card out to the centurians on her mailing list, why bother at all. It's insulting. I don't know about you but I know for a fact, I couldn't get away with sending the same card year after year to anyone! It'd be royaly insulting and I don't think 'it's the thought that counts' cuts it!

I'll have to check with my mom to see if she kept the cards my Great Grandmother received. She lived to see 106 but I don't remember how many cards the Queen sent her or if they were the same ones year after year. I suspect they might have been - like those letters from Santa the mail office sends out! - maybe it's the same elves at work since in our house our four kids compare those letters and yes, they have two versions and a lot of fake Santa signatures!!!! Again, is it some of kind of conspiracy waged against the young and the old alike?! I wonder what Catherine and Grandma would have said about those!!! Unfortunately my grandma passed away the same year my son was born, getting to meet only the first two of her four great-great-grandchildren but I know given how spunky she was, would have shook her head at that one too. Maybe I'll get Catherine on the case. After all, she got the Prince of England to hear her out!