{"id":3114,"date":"2018-05-23T03:31:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-23T03:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/?p=3114"},"modified":"2021-05-08T14:34:47","modified_gmt":"2021-05-08T14:34:47","slug":"love-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/love-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I lived in England pretty much the first half of 1981 \u2013 In a mid-sized town along the Humber River.\u00a0 Grimsby was famous for being the birthplace of a popular fishing trawler and only a stone\u2019s throw from the Dolphin Hotel and Tavern, rumored to be among the top pint-pouring taverns in the kingdom.<\/p>\n

I left Grimsby on July 29th, <\/sup>to go to Amsterdam. I couldn\u2019t wait to get out of the country where everyone had succumbed to a strange sort of fever. Charles and Diana Royal Wedding Mania.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s Cathedral in London.<\/p>\n

I was recently married myself, to an instrumentation engineer who worked at petrochemical refineries around the world.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t especially into the hoo-haa fairy tale thing.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t 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<\/strong>, I think I had a curiosity about what Kate wore for her big walk.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s maturing process from truculent party boy to army captain, about Meghan\u2019s roots in LA, and her early concerns with women\u2019s rights and poverty.<\/p>\n

Who doesn\u2019t appreciate a good romance?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But a divorced actress from LA\u2026 from a mixed-race family\u2026older by years\u2026<\/p>\n

What are the odds?\u00a0 More than enough to flummox even a veteran Vegas bookie.<\/p>\n

This, for me, makes their love story about us \u2013 about all of us \u2013 and not just about another branch in the Windsor Mountbatten family tree.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about black swans, about unexpected circumstances. About imagining the unimaginable. About…<\/p>\n