I’m not gonna lie, all this talk of Royal Wedding hoopla originally had me annoyed and worn out in the same manner as most of this country. Facebook and Twitter posts alike have displayed their authors burned out grievances with talk of the upcoming royal nuptials for Prince William and British commoner Kate Middleton. Every morning when I finish my workout, I often tune into the Today Show while preparing breakfast for the Coach and I, and every morning the Coach expressed disdain with the ever-present Royal chatter in the media. I can’t really blame him, it was constantly being thrust in our faces on the television, radio and plastered on the cover of every magazine cover available.
What annoyed me the most about the media coverage of the people involved in the royal event, was the insane focus on the trivial and mundane details of the occasion. For example, one morning on the Today Show, Meredith Vieira presented a segment based on a paparazzi photo of Kate Middleton wearing her hair up while she was driving into London. The question surrounding her up-do asked if this is how the potential-future queen would choose to wear her hair after joining the royal family. Really? There’s so much war, destruction and catastrophic disasters going on in the world at this time and the only thing the media focuses on is a minute hair style?? It’s an active up-do that us girls frequently wrap our hair into without giving it a second thought, yet no one leeches on to us and pesters why we chose that sloppy hair style for the day. I guess that’s because we’re not in the process of landing a British prince…
Albeit in the midst of all the buzz, I realized that there was something about the event that fascinated me and drew me to the occasion. You might say that the initial reaction was merely curiosity in regards to the royal family that we seem to hear so little about on this side of “the pond.” But the more that I thought about it, the more I tried to explain my thoughts about the wedding to the Coach who has grown increasingly annoyed with the whole affair.
I explained to him that in addition to this occasion being one of tradition, I think it’s important to point that it’s a historical moment that we don’t get to witness that often. My mother remembers when Lady Diana wed Prince Charles and in turn I will be able to one day tell my children that I remembered when Prince William married Princess Kate. Also, I tried to explain to the Coach that this Royal Wedding is the ULTIMATE fairytale. We’ve all seen the Hollywood-ized princess movies involving the regular girl-next-door-turned-princess and I think most of us watch with a twinge knowing that it’s a fairytale story very much unlike reality. It’s a story that we might fantasize could happen to us, but since we know it doesn’t, we chose to lose ourselves in the fantasy and escape reality by watching the cutesey storylines on the big screen. But our fantasy is HER reality.
Despite my better judgment, I strangely found myself awake at 5:30 a.m. last Friday morning and even stranger I found myself walking into the living room and tuning into the wedding coverage on NBC. I flipped on the tube with the lowest and most cynical of curious expectations, but was shocked and surprised with myself in the second I saw the prince gaze fondly on his bride and heard the melodious chorale of the Westminster Abbey boys leading the congregation in singing “Jerusalem.” I must say there was a stirring in my heart at that moment that I was not expecting.
And it wasn’t because I was enraptured with the glorious details surrounding the members of the wedding party and family of the common bride; it wasn’t because I was thrilled to find out what talented designer pieced together the wedding gown; it wasn’t because this was a royal occasion taking place to secure the future of a European nation; and it definitely wasn’t because I frequently get caught up in the romanticized projection of pop-culture lifestyles and fantasies.
Ultimately what got me was this.
There was a man. And he loved a woman. So much, that he had to ensure he got to spend the rest of his life with her. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t royalty or anybody famous. He chose her to be his partner for life, and where she came from mattered little to him. The sweetest thing about it still is that when you find your best friend in a sea of people, you can’t bear the thought of not being with them everyday for the rest of your life.
It doesn’t matter who we are or where we come from; ultimately, if you’re a happily married, engaged or in-a-relationship woman, you have a prince gazing adoringly at you whether it be from across the restaurant dinner table, living room or front lawn. He doesn’t care that you can’t cook like his mother, or that you look like a corpse bride in the wee hours of the morning, or that you occasionally burst into maniacal tears for seemingly no reason.
He chose you….to be his…
Now THAT is kind of special.
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The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”Gen. 2:18
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