Today I cried. I wasn’t sad, and I wasn’t happy. I was….. reading gossip columns. Ugh. I know! So lame. Here’s what happened:
When I woke up and flipped on the news this morning, everyone was talking about the freshly announced engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton. This is really exciting for me. No, I don’t know the happy couple. I’m not of British decent. I’m not even a WASP. My fascination with that particular couple has absolutely no good explanation. So when tears began streaming down my face I was a little confused, to say the very least.
First, I blame my mother. She is forever telling me this story about how she watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana when I was a newborn, and how decadent and fanciful it all was. Since I have an appreciation for a finely-made dress and a well-planned event, I naturally became interested in that particular wedding. And I think it was melted into my brain when my mom watched it with infant Stevie in her lap.
Second, I’ve always had a tongue-in-cheek joke that I was saving myself for Prince William. It was obviously never true, but it was a major fantasy of mine to become a princess. I couldn’t help but daydream about how amazing it would be. Truth be told, I’d be a TERRIBLE princess. But that’s really not the point.
Third, I remember the death of Princess Di like it was yesterday (there was some initial confusion when I thought that Luciano Pavoratti had killed her… that was the day I learned the word “paparazzi”). I remember watching footage of Prince William at the funeral procession and thinking how ridiculously hard that must be for a guy just a year younger than me.
This third reason is what got me: I was fine as a perused the internet for pictures of the lovely princess-to-be in her adorable outfits (I ADORE the hats and the riding boots), and her totally sincere perma-smile. It was when I saw the ring that I lost it: it was the ring with which Charles had proposed to Diana. Prince William said he wanted his mother to be a part of this celebration. Let the waterworks begin. I completely crumbled into a sniffling, sentimental lump.
So in conclusion, there was really no explanation for my sudden onslaught of emotion or my transformation into a hopeless romantic. I fixed the situation the only way I knew how: I roasted a turkey. WHO AM I??!!
Yankee in Texas 