I’m not awake intentionally at 2:30am. I know there are those people who are staying up tonight to watch the Royal Wedding coverage but the nuptials haven’t garnered that attention from me. Admittedly, Charles and Diana’s wedding day was a far bigger deal.
For one thing, I was 17 and most teenage girls are fascinated with the idea of what it must be like to become a princess. Secondly, there was the fairy tale ending of “…and they lived happily ever after” which is the dream of every woman, young or old. Like most of the world, I watched Diana blossom into a proud mother to an independent woman involved in worthy causes to a heartbroken princess and when news came of her auto accident I was struck to the core with sadness.
I couldn’t tear myself away from the television, waiting for an update on her condition and it was in the wee hours of the night (probably about this time, in fact) when they officially announced her passing. I remember weeping with unexplainable anguish…in part because I, too, was a mom of young children. In part because it was too tragic for words. The demise of that fairy tale had ended with the divorce but there was a sense that, like any good novel, there would be a plot twist and all would end well in the end. Of course, that wasn’t meant to be.
Today, it’s sweet to think of William marrying a young woman who is wearing his mothers
engagement ring. He resembles his mother so much and maybe we just want to see him get all of the happiness that, ultimately, she did not.
The wedding that will take place in a few hours in London does seem more interesting to me as the minutes tick by. Although I really don’t understand the overall fascination with the royal family, I’m not immune to the hype that surrounds them. All of the pomp and circumstance aside, this is a young couple who are beginning their married lives today. It’s a new chapter. It’s a new “Once Upon a Time….”
