I admit it. Like millions of other viewers, I’m hooked, even though I’m coming to it very late. I’d heard so much about this series that I couldn’t help myself. I had to see what all the hoopla was about.

Here in Canada, we’re in Season 3, so it wasn’t until I went to the US that I caught the first season on Netflix. Okay, you got me. But where was Season 2??? Netflix didn’t have it!! Now I have to wait until it’s available at the library (approximate wait time 57 days) to find out what happened to Edith and Sybil, how Mr. Bates and Anna got together, and how Lady Mary ended up married and pregnant.

What’s really interesting to me is that the other day, out of the blue, it struck me that I’d been watching a fictionalized version of my grandmother’s life. As a young woman in England in the early 1900’s (at the time the show is set), my grandmother was “in service”, which is really only a nice way of saying she was a maid in a house not unlike Downton Abbey.

I can’t help wondering which character she would be. Would she be Daisy, the lowest on the totem pole? Did she work her way up to a position like Anna’s? Or was she somewhere in between? I know Downton Abbey is fictional, but I think the basics are realistic to the time period, and it does give me a glimpse into what my grandmother’s life as a young woman was like. I wish I’d asked her more about her life when I had the chance.

Moral of the story: The older members of your family have so much to teach us. Ask questions. You might be surprised at what you learn.

What about you? Are you a fan?