Deep Dive Into the Mitford-Verse

The quaint & scenic Hudson Valley is on a Winter Storm Watch. BIG snow event expected.

The timing of the BIG snow event is a tad confusing, though. The advisory was issued yesterday, but the snow is forecast to hit tomorrow afternoon.

Nonetheless, it was bleak & grey when I woke up this morning, & it smelled like snow. (Yes, the world has a very distinct scent when it’s gonna snow.) I stocked up on provisions at the Upscale Supermarket in Middletown and then drove by the Y, but it was a typical Saturday morning: too many people, too few machines. No gym for me today!

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After I read Unity’s Hitler diaries yesterday, I did a deep dive into the Mitford-verse, and found this little gem, which I’d never stumbled across before.

Watch on YouTube

Then I tried to analyze just what it is about the Mitford sisters that makes them so meaningful to me.

Much of it has to do with their extraordinary childhood, described in Decca’s Hons and Rebels and Nancy’s The Pursuit of Love.

If it was taking place today, the Mitfords’ childhood would be viewed as highly traumatic.

Their father, Lord Redesdale, was a xenophobic bully who used to organize “child hunts” (modeled after fox hunts), going after the girls with real bloodhounds who howled and nipped & bit. Their father refused to let any of the girls—except for (oddly enough) Unity—go to school because he didn’t want them to develop thick calves from playing field hockey. He was verbally abusive, and despite his title, the children grew up in poverty & neglect.

But it would never have occurred to the Mitford girls to see themselves as victims.

I don’t know how they responded to it all as children, but as adults, they viewed it as hilarious.
And that’s what saved them.

Humor lends one resilience.

Resilience is sadly lacking in contemporary culture. But, of course, it is one of the qualities I admire the most.

Obvs, one must take threats to a child’s physical welfare seriously. But beyond that, is it really better to intervene when your kid starts whining about something nonessential or to tell them, Toughen up! Figure out a way to deal with this yourself.

I don’t know.

But I do know that it seems to be getting harder & harder for young people to survive, and that's because they're not resilient.