Like so much of the rest of the world, I was glued to my TV when Kate married William… I mean when Her Royal Highness Catherine Elizabeth, The Duchess of Cambridge married His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, Duke of Cambridge.
It felt like I was watching a real-life fairytale playing out on the screen.
A young woman goes off to University where she meets a handsome young Prince. While her family is not royal, the Prince falls madly in love with her and marries her in an event that holds audiences captive across the globe. A woman with grace and elegance… who was in the right place at the right time to fall in love with the right guy.
I have to be honest. When I was younger, I remember wondering what my odds were of meeting Prince William. No. I’m serious. I feel like every girl my age at some point in her life thought to herself at least once, “If I married Prince William, I might be married to the King someday. How do I make this happen?”
Hearts broke all over the globe when Kate stepped out dressed in elegant white lace on her wedding day. It was official. The rest of us would never have a chance at being married to Prince William.
But with their, “I do’s” and iconic kiss on the balcony following the ceremony, they taught us to still believe in unlikely “Once Upon a Times.”
The other day, I was at the grocery store with my three kids. Kate and William were on the covers of magazines again. This time, they were showing off the littlest Princess, Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge. (I’m secretly hoping that they nickname her Lottie.) The magazine captioned that inside I would find more information about royal life with two babies.
But as I stood there at checkout with my own Prince and Princess and (a bonus Prince on my hip,) I realized that I didn’t need to open up the magazine to find out what life was like with two babies under the age of two.
I know that all too well for myself. My oldest two were born seventeen months apart. I lived through the days of having a toddler and an infant, and while my kids might not have that kind of royal blood in their veins, babies are the same all across this globe… full of joy and absolutely exhausting.
As I stood there, I couldn’t help but think of Kate as a woman just like me… Just a mom trying her best with little ones to love… and as I looked at that photo of the Royal Family, I realized that fairy tales rarely show us what happens after the wedding. They rarely tell us what happens after the Princess marries her handsome Prince… But the magazine did.
As it turns out? Happily ever after just might include two under the age of two and a Princess (Duchess) who feels just like me some days.
I wonder if Kate ever feels overwhelmed by the duties expected of her and the realities of raising little ones at home. I wonder if she worries that there might not be enough of her to go around between official obligations and her kids and her husband. I wonder if she ever says to herself, “This isn’t how I thought motherhood would feel.”
Before she brought Charlotte home from the hospital, I wonder if she worried about loving her as much as she loved Prince George. I wonder if she felt as if she would be stealing love from George to give to Charlotte. I wonder if she worried how she would have enough love for everyone…. enough time for everyone… enough of herself for everyone.
And at the end of the day, I wonder if she climbs into bed feeling like she hasn’t seen her husband in days.
There is so much joy in being a momma to two little ones, but there is also so much that you give. I have a feeling that the same is true for her Royal Highness… Because it is so true for the rest of us. While our circumstances might all be different, I have a feeling that no matter where you are on this globe, motherhood will always be both the hardest and most rewarding job there is.
But the more I think about it? The more I understand that while our “Once upon a times” might all begin differently, our “Happily ever afters” are all so often the same.
And right there in that moment, Kate taught me again that fairytales do come true… Because there is no happier ending than beautiful, exhausting, Lord-how-am-I-ever-going-to-make-it-until-bedtime motherhood…
And today? I’m remembering to enjoy my own happily ever after.
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