Weighty Watching

Well, I had to do it.  It was the perfect excuse to throw a party (and eat scones with curd and cream, cucumber sandwiches and such)--- with girls!!  It was a historical event that I wanted Julia to see and thought it would be all the more memorable to experience with friends.

When I was eleven, I remember watching Princess Diana become a bonafide princess.   In 1981, Lady Di’s poofy dress was incredible and we couldn’t see enough pictures of her walking down the aisle, in the carriage, on the balcony.  What we see now is a big air puff of a dress with enough material to make a wedding dress, all the bridesmaid’s dresses and possibly the drapes for Buckingham Palace.  But in 1981, her dress was the definition of class and elegance.  Many a bride would walk down the aisle in something similar for years to come.  

Thirty years later, our reaction is the same.  Whether we are 10 or 40, what girl doesn’t want to watch a lady become a princess?  Why wouldn’t we all want to see the gown she chose on the day a majority of the world would see her?  To catch a sweet exchange between bride and groom?  To watch the entire Royal Family on such a day?  To spot the hats in the crowd?  The “watch” proved to be more entertaining 30 years later!

The girls--and Moms-- came in wedding finery and settled in to watch.  After the balcony kiss, their imaginations couldn’t be contained any longer and they set out to perform their own royal wedding.  Their creativity and recall of the wedding events made for an entertaining re-enactment.

I know very little of the “royal couple” but enough to know they do not share some of our beliefs and morals.   However, as I watched, it was easy to find things I admired about Kate, now the Duchess of Cambridge, on her wedding day--  her perfectly lovely- and modest- gown, her composure on a day of unimaginable weighty proportions, her beauty and her seeming respect for the role into which she was entering.   I knew Julia was watching carefully, taking it all in, for this couple of hours, knowing life long impressions would be made.  Before deciding to host a party, I thought through that and I was quickly reminded that for days, months and years, she has me to watch. Talk about "weighty proportions”.  Not just one day, but day after day after day watching almost everything I do.  I can’t lose sight of that- and sometimes I wish I could.  It’s a responsibility of great magnitude.  Weighty.  At times, crushing.

Of course, I’ve no Cartier tiara, no carriage nor a lovely gown to woo her with but I do have time to give her.  Gobs of it.  And in that time, I’ve got a real life to share.  Every day of it.  And in that real life, I’ve got myself to share.  All of it.  And in myself, I’ve got Christ, my only Hope, to share.

And, He’s something to watch.