Victoria Returns

A friend recently sent me an email to share the good news that Victoria Magazine is coming back this year in November. My reaction to the news surprises me immensely. A bubbling of joy surges out of nowhere and a huge grin creeps into the corners of my mouth.

I go immediately to my Google search bar and put in the words Victoria Magazine. The search produces a list of articles with the news of the magazine's merger between Hoffman Media and Hearst Publications. Among the list I see http://www.victoriamag.com/ and when I open the link, tears spring up as quickly as the site opens. I am puzzled.

During the era of the magazine - mid 90's to 2003 - there was a resurgence of Victorian art, clothing, home decor, and the likes. We all drug out our grandmother's lace doilies or bought them in quaint Victorian gift stores that abounded everywhere. We found chintz prints and made pillows, purchased flowered teacups and reveled in a lost age of charm.

But this is what puzzles me most. I wonder why I am so enraptured with this magazine coming back when my home looks a lot more like Pottery Barn than anything else these days. I've changed so much, and so has everyone else. As I ponder the whole idea, a voice from somewhere whispers, "It isn't the style of the Victorian Age that makes your heart sing, Cathee." "It's the simple beauty, the capture of quiet moments, the detail of a single setting for afternoon tea."

I don't know what you'll be this time around, Victoria, but I do hope you haven't lost your loveliness, your penchant for sweet modesty, your focus on the fading grace of enjoying simple pleasures. I look forward to those same lush arrangements of flowers and objects, quotes from literature, thoughts about life that provide a sumptious picnic for my soul. As I feast my eyes on the image in this article, I hear you say, "I'm back," and my heart skips a beat as if I've run into an dear old friend I haven't seen in a long time.