I lived in England pretty much the first half of 1981 – In a mid-sized town along the Humber River.  Grimsby was famous for being the birthplace of a popular fishing trawler and only a stone’s throw from the Dolphin Hotel and Tavern, rumored to be among the top pint-pouring taverns in the kingdom.

I left Grimsby on July 29th, to go to Amsterdam. I couldn’t wait to get out of the country where everyone had succumbed to a strange sort of fever. Charles and Diana Royal Wedding Mania. 

I bought a ceramic souvenir mug, sporting pics of a young Lady Di and youngish Prince Charles, and crossed the channel to the land of Heineken just when the world was directing its attention to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

I was recently married myself, to an instrumentation engineer who worked at petrochemical refineries around the world.  I wasn’t especially into the hoo-haa fairy tale thing.

I don’t remember how I felt about Will and Kate getting hitched in 2011, except, as a new fan of the TV show, Say Yes to the Dress, I think I had a curiosity about what Kate wore for her big walk.

I don’t typically indulge in celebrity stories, but I found myself compelled to learn as much as I could about the royal courtship and, of course was drawn to the coverage of the big event in Windsor.

Last week, I watched late night biopics on cable about how Harry and Meghan met, about how the paparazzi threatened to tear them apart, about Harry’s maturing process from truculent party boy to army captain, about Meghan’s roots in LA, and her early concerns with women’s rights and poverty.

Who doesn’t appreciate a good romance?

Who can balk at the idea that Harry, after the loss of his mum at such a young age and years of disappointment in other relationships, found a partner that challenged him while bringing him a new level of peace.

But a divorced actress from LA… from a mixed-race family…older by years…

What are the odds?  More than enough to flummox even a veteran Vegas bookie.

This, for me, makes their love story about us – about all of us – and not just about another branch in the Windsor Mountbatten family tree.

It’s about black swans, about unexpected circumstances. About imagining the unimaginable. About…

  • Getting the job despite being one of 700 candidates who sent in a resume.
  • Winning the Power Ball lottery.
  • Managing to make it to the finals after barely qualifying for the tournament.
  • Beating cancer.

We all want to beat the odds, don’t we?

We all want good health, or prosperity.  We want the object of our affections to love us back in equal measure.

A little evidence of someone beating the odds and, ignoring the heavy weight of history and convention, to steer their own ship in the general direction of happily after ever is no small thing.