I wasn’t going to watch. Honest. It was just a wedding right?
With so many hugely important things going on in the world (killer storms, US soldiers murdered by one of our “allies” in Afghanistan, the economy just to name a few) my time and energy would be much better spent concentrating on the real stuff.
Right…
I forgot to factor in one simple fact: I’m a woman. And women love weddings. (Elizabeth Taylor loved them so much she had eight of her own!)
I realize I’m generalizing here, but there is something about the notion of two people professing their love for each other in front of family and friends (and in this case an estimated 2 BILLION people worldwide) that seems to activate some romantic-hormone (or I guess her-mone) in a lot of women. I think of it as “PNS”… Pre-Nuptial Syndrome.
Now throw in the fact that in this case the groom just happens to be a Prince - who tragically lost his Princess-mother when he was just a boy - and you may as well throw in the towel.
Thus I found myself sitting in front of the TV this morning at 5 something waiting for the fairy tale to begin. Kleenex in hand, I stared at the screen waiting for Kate - the bride to be - to emerge. And when she did… WOW! She was stunning! The dress was… perfect! She looked like Grace Kelly, Angelina Jolie and the girl-next-door all rolled into one. And so happy!
I was just about to text my hairdresser to see what he thought of the dress (I knew He’d be watching) when my nine year old son Charlie came downstairs.
“Whata ya watchin, mom?” he asked sleepily.
“The Royal Wedding!” I replied enthusiastically.
“But what about the episode of ‘Pokemon: Sinoh League Victors’ I DVRed? You said I could watch it when I got up.”
Damn!
“I think you’ll really like the wedding…” I say weakly.
Five minutes later he’s happily chomping away on a Pop Tart watching Pokemon on the big TV while I’m sitting on a hard wooden chair I’ve dragged over to the counter by the small TV in the kitchen. The ceremony was fabulous. Her gown… His uniform… The way Prince Harry snuck a peak at the bride as she made her way down the aisle. The shy smiles exchanged between the Bride and Groom. I was teary-eyed long before they even got to the vows.
“Why are you crying?”, asks Charlie. “It’s…a…wedding!” I say, as if that’s all the explanation necessary.
“Okaaaay,” he says skeptically. And then comes another moment that makes me cry - when I realize that my little boy isn’t quite so little anymore.
“When are they gonna kiss?” he asks, smiling nervously. Aha! So the whole “Boys Rule, Girls Drool” thing he and his friends are always talking about might be losing some of it’s luster.
I explain that they’re not going to kiss until 8:25 when they go out on the palace balcony. He’s not too thrilled about having to wait, but agrees to switch the big TV over to the wedding coverage. We sit on the couch together, watching the “Countdown to The Kiss” clock on NBC and wait. And wait.
There is a flutter of curtain at the balcony door and then the Prince and his new Princess step out to meet the adoring crowd below.
“Finally!”, Charlie says. “Are they gonna kiss now?”.
“In a sec sweetie,” I say. “They’re waving to the…”
And then it happens. They kiss. For like a second and a half! It was so fast I almost missed it.
“THAT’S IT?” Charlie shouts. “We waited all this time for THAT?”. (Too be honest, he saw more action than that in the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” Christmas movie). He was clearly expecting more. (And to be honest, so was I!)
As the happy couple went back inside to celebrate, we went back to our normal morning routine of getting ready for school. On the drive over, he looked at me very seriously and said, “Mom… I need you to tell Grandpa something really important.” “Sure,” I said. “What is it?” “Tell him not to write anything funny about the wedding in the blog today. Weddings are important stuff.”
My little man is growing up. After he got out of the car, I started crying all over again. Because it suddenly dawned on me that someday they’ll be another wedding that brings me to tears: Charlie’s.
-Jackie