Royal Wedding Blues

All I have seen on television and facebook are comments about the Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate.  It's splashed everywhere and I live on the other side of the pond.  I am not British or able to trace my family to that island, but I can't believe how swept up the world is over one event.

I wasn't old enough to remember Prince Charles and Diana's nuptials, but I do have a set of paper dolls I picked up in the Variety store.  I played with those beautiful dolls and loved the puffy wedding dress.  I also know how that marriage really turned out. 

There is a reason all these stories end at "happily ever after".  Most love stories and fairy tales focus on catching the husband. They are intriguing, suspenseful, tense, and sometimes full of woe. They are made for drama lovers.

I am a romance junkie.

I admit to watching soap operas and consuming any romance book or movie I find.  I will even watch comic book movies, because of the tortured love interest in them.  My hubby doesn't mind and I get a little "Clois" action when we watch Smallville together. 

I am a sap at heart.

Imagine if Jane Austen wrote about married life.  I don't think Mr. Darcy would be ingrained in our culture if we read about how he never made the bed or constantly tossed his socks in the same part of the parlor every night.  No one would care.  His beloved character was even revamped for the Bridget Jones movies and newspaper series.  I have a hard time imagining a literary world where Austen's Mr. Darcy doesn't exist.  If Lizzy Bennet's story began when she married Mr. Darcy, we probably would despise her scowling uptight old man.

We are drawn to these love stories, but we don't want the "reality" of life after the wedding.  A lot of us know what awaits our heroines on the other side of the veil...

So, here's to the happy royal couple:  I do wish them happiness and a lifetime full of love.  I hope Prince William takes out the trash and helps with diaper duty.  I hope Kate doesn't mind if her new husband forgets to grab a loaf of bread on his way home, because an urgent matter at the palace happened to pop up.  I hope Kate didn't fall in love with him only after she saw his "palace". 

Here's to all of us:  THAT we all find our prince and build our castle on true love and hard work.

Tonight, I will celebrate the big royal bash with a movie marathon of NORTH AND SOUTH and PERSUASION.  This is a perfect time to introduce my boys to a few of my favorite stories.  I am sure there will be balking and revolting, but I can be the queen for one night.  I might even throw Hugh Grant in as Daniel Clever from a Bridget Jones' flick.  I won't don a hat or dine on tea and crumpets, but my heart will be in Britain vicariously by BBC miniseries as I rule over the television remote.  Mr. Thornton is calling my name...

How will you celebrate the royal wedding?  Do you even care?