William and Catherine and Herb and I

So I woke this morning a bit later than usual to a day of sun and clear sky. I will leave shortly to get to work to interview the first of four candidates applying for the job I have been doing since October. But that is another story for some other day, or not.

I turned on NPR as is my usual routine and of course, all the news is about THE wedding. Not ours of course, but of William and Catherine (who used to be Kate). One commentator said that she was beloved because she was "discreet" like the Queen.  There were comments aplenty about the dress (and no, I still don't know what I am going to wear but there are comments aplenty about that too!).  As I look up from the computer, to the tv, there is a gauntlet of enormous long lenses pointed at the balcony to record the first kiss.And a fly over of war planes. And bells ringing non-stop and hundreds of thousands of people in the courtyard, where the gate to the Palace parade grounds (Is that what it is called?) is open as though you could just stop in with a little gift.

I am struck (again), by what this means to marry. I am struck by the hope that is expressed by all, that this is a marriage that will last. There is talk aplenty about the fact that this couple has known each other for 9 years and is similar in age and therefore less likely to have the same path ahead that his parents had, who married 30 years ago (!) There is talk of the commoner marrying the heir. And oh yes, the banner at the bottom of the screen reads "Awaiting Kiss on Balcony." Some echo I suppose of Romeo and Juliet.

And now that the kiss has happened, they are running slow motion reruns.

It is enough to give me pause as the saying goes. Not the kiss or the slow motion reruns. But the hope that is offered up in such full measure. While our wedding will be a very different occasion, we too share in that generous offering of hope for the future. And I am struck by what that means, by the importance that "hope" plays. It is something I will be carrying with me today. Hope that William and Catherine will be happy amid lives that will no longer be their own. Hope that H and I will have the happiness and future that all our friends wish for us. But I am reminded once again, that our lives will be built every day. That we will wake each morning and sleep each night believing that what is possible is what we can build together. There is a quote from Czech writer Vaclav Havel: "Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense." Hope enough in that.