April 28, 2011

I woke up this morning and I thought, They’re married already.  Wills and Kate had a private ceremony with just the family last Thursday.    She wore the dress she really wanted to wear and not the one that would look best when photographed.  They exchanged vows in an intimate way that would make sense to them, vows that would allow them to communicate just what they feel for one another without worry or even a second thought of international propriety.  They exchanged their vows in some quiet little corner of Buckingham Palace, in the middle of the day, when no one was paying attention.  Maybe the Queen wasn’t even there.  Maybe just Harry as a witness and a Vicar from her village.  

That’s what I woke up thinking and as I write it I am more and more convinced it is correct.  Maybe not last Thursday necessarily, but that they did it already.    At least that’s what I hope.  If ever I have hoped to be right it is on this matter.  Please, let me be right.  Let them be married already and let tomorrow be just the fun and fluff for all of us.

I am certain that I will spend most of tomorrow in tears.  I am susceptible to the romance of it all even though I know in my heart they already did it.  I am susceptible to the larger meaning of missing Diana and having watched William as a little boy.  It may not be popular to have an interest in the Royals but I can’t help it.   I was raised on Walt Disney and an endless parade of media hyped princesses and the belief that once she finds her prince everything will be right with the world. 

I know it’s not always the case.  Not even close to being real.   I know princes are human and princesses sometimes have to go to work and fight the dragons too.   Even still I am so susceptible. 

We have no aristocracy in America.  We had the Kennedys, most are gone now.  We had JFK Jr., how I loved him.  How heart broken I was when he was taken.   It’s a fantasy, all of it,  I know but the adrenaline can’t be denied.    Wouldn’t everyone love to live in a castle?  It seems silly to suggest they give it up.  Unpopular to some even unnecessary perhaps.  But most of us want this wedding, need this wedding and them, relish in the ceremony, the grand gesture of it all.  It puts us on the map.  Places us within a context, marks time and creates a commonality.  We are witnessing an expression of love.  We are witnessing their commitment.    All of us together at the exact same time.  And perhaps unpopular, perhaps unnecessary, but I will always prefer to share the commonality of a wedding to sharing the commonality of a war.   A fraction of the expense and all in celebration of love. 

But I do hope they’ve managed to keep something for themselves.   I hope they had the good sense to marry ahead of the plan.  I don’t mind in the least if they keep that tiny secret for decades to come. 

 Ohhh, I know I am right.  Hoorah!  I know, I am right!