It's good to be a commoner

What a breathtaking, awe-inspiring, impossibly intimate Royal Wedding. Wow.

One of my naysayer students made a comment to the effect of "why should people [we] care about it?" This strikes me as positively amusing, ironic and baffling. We are Americans who are notorious for our hero-worship of anyone beautiful and/or rich, yet we scoff at it if the individual isn't directly related to America? Seriously, wouldn't the collective everyone simply fawn all over Will & Catherine if they had some tangential tie-in to the States? Why must we be nationalistic snobs? We glued ourselves to our TVs, iPhones and laptops this morning simply for the same reason that we afford any celebrity more than their 15 minutes of fame. We, Americans, have a big issue with idolizing individuals for ambiguous reasons. However, for once, why not?!? In my very unimportant and unscientific opinion, at least this is one couple that we should celebrate and adore. You can't make me believe that those TWO kisses (gasp!) on the balcony of Buckingham Palace weren't heartfelt and adorable. Watch Charles & Diana in the corresponding situation and then compare...egads.

But watching that made me realize that sometimes it's good to be a commoner. Would I have handled my own wedding in that manner of pomp and ceremony? AND, think of all of the details in which Princess Catherine did not have a voice. Undoubtedly, the majority of the wedding was detailed and coordinated by someone who is paid well to say "You do this, and you stand here because this is the way it will be." To some extent, it would have been more relaxing for my own wedding if I did have that someone to tell me what to do, to only have to decide what my dress would be and what my hair would look like. But on the other hand, I remember specific specific details about my own wedding that Princess Catherine can't. However, I also understand that you can easily argue that she will have "specific specific" details to remember about her own wedding day that are grander and more extraordinary than my wedding could ever replicate.

Yet my wedding didn't require $55 million just for security (which, by the way, kudos to the British for their panache in blending security into the landscape; American police can never compete). And my wedding was still joyous, just as today's celebration was.

Funny aside: Ben and I were told that we would not kiss after being pronounced husband and wife, kind of like today's newlyweds couldn't either. Except that I/we forgot, and we did. Good thing we're not royal; we would have enraged the Queen, among others.

The wedding made my day after an emotional week. I'm definitely one of those people who enjoy attending weddings rather than dreading them. Every bride is beautiful. Every wedding is so full of emotion--trust, faith and love. I thoroughly enjoy sharing such intimate moments because a wedding inevitably reminds me of how much I love my own hubby and the importance of the vows that we wrote for each other.

But once again, sometimes it's just good to be a commoner. I don't enjoy kissing in front of other people. So having at least a billion people watching me smootch...I'll let someone else revel in the balcony scene.