Prince William and Kate

I took the day off to watch the Royal Wedding, resisting the dozens of desperate calls from St. Louis Park, where apparently half the teaching force wished to do the same thing and must have called in at the last minute with a nosebleed. It truly did not disappoint. Some people laughed at me -- actually several people laughed at me, but I didn't care. (I at least had the sense to record it - twice - and watch it later, all twelve hours!) Thirty years ago I remember sitting on my couch at 4:30 am with my baby daughter in my lap, watching Charles and Diana get married. I was naive enough to think they would live happily ever after. I sat on the same couch with that same daughter, aged 16, watching Diana's funeral. Our own family was breaking apart and we cried for Diana, but we also cried for ourselves. Happily ever after just doesn't work out sometimes.

I am not a Royalist by any stretch, but I do enjoy all the pomp and circumstance that the Brits do better than anyone in the world. I even thought the Bible reading which Kate and Will chose and the prayer they wrote together for the ceremony were rather telling. These two have obviously learned something from the past and have given thought to their future roles, which some argue are archaic and meaningless.

As neurotic and immature as Princess Diana was, she did manage to bring the monarchy kicking and screaming into the future (or into the more recent past, as my editor might say). Watching as Diana was forced to face the reality of her sham marriage was very painful for me, because my marriage at that time was also a sham and I didn't want to face reality either. Watching her fumble and bumble as she did in so many ways was understandable to me as I too fumbled and bumbled my way out of a bad marriage.

One thing Diana did get right was being a Mom to her sons, William and Harry. Amid all the craziness of her short life, she did have a vision as to what she felt was important for her sons to learn and experience outside their royal realm. Some of the antics of William and Harry have not been all that admirable, but other times they have shown a deep sense of what is really important in our world and how their notoriety can make a difference. Wedding guests were told to make charitable gifts from a long list of charities rather than buy gifts. Harry did not flinch from putting himself in harm's way in Afghanistan and he was truly upset and angry when he was told he had to come home. Both young men have traveled the world supporting a variety of worthy human rights causes.

The most fun and interesting aspect of this royal romance to me is the fact that Kate's great grandfather was a coal miner from the north of England and her grandmother dreamed of being the "top brick in the chimney." Kate's mom was a flight attendant and her dad an airline dispatcher before they became very successful internet business tycoons. Not exactly rags to riches but they did make themselves top bricks in the chimney. Who knows, this time there may be a happily ever after.