Why people got up at ungodly hours to watch the royal wedding
1 I /
1 wasn't /
2 going to /
3 watch the wedding /
5 live, but at five my /
8 eyes spontaneously opened. What else but to grab /
13 a blanket, turn on the telly, and start to read the text messages /
21 somebody sent me. She asked if I remembered when we both got up at five a. m. on the day of the marriage of Charles and Diana.
34 Yes, I do. My friend was younger than I and sleepy and not completely sure why this was important but then the bride emerged and we watched the glass carriage rush the girl too soon /
55 to the altar. Being a kindergarten assistant is not, as it happens, the best preparation for the harsh light of royal marriage. But that was then, and today was a new morning, with two educated adults meeting as equals. They seemed giddy with the joy of an excellent adventure. Someone I know teaches third grade, where the boys
89 made tophats and the girls flowerdy hats. Devin was to take a mug to high school, for today they were having tea and cookies in English class. Everyone was giddy, here and there, giddy with the sunshine in London and the monstrously creative hats; with the colors, the horses, the carriages; the Archbishop of Canterbury in his most solemn tall gold wedding hat; the queen, impeccable in daffodil yellow; and then William and Kate as she was until today, now Catherine, confidently promising to love and clearly pledging to protect each other. We're not all royalists, but many of us know love, and so we wake up (even without an alarm clock) on days like this.
2 comments:
I'm with you on this one! Growing up Protestant in Northern Ireland, the Royal Family was a constant in our lives. My mother always stressed the need for good manners in case the Queen ever came to tea...LOL. She never did, but I still enjoy the pomp and circumstance, and very much enjoyed your take on the wedding...:)
Lynette
imagination Lane
With my father being British, we had that "the Queen might come to tea" sensibility in our house, too. My parents revised it a bit; what with class distinctions being rather more subtle here, their view was we needed good manners because they might come to tea.
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