Thirty years ago, something woke me up in the middle of the night. When I went downstairs to investigate, I found my mom watching the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Amazingly, she didn’t send me back to bed, and we watched the live broadcast in the middle of the California night. I was 6 years old.
Caitlyn is well-trained to sleep through a lot, so I didn’t wait for her to wake up on her own, but collected her from her bed shortly after 2am our time Friday morning to watch the live stream of Prince William’s wedding to Catherine Middleton. We talked a bit about modern monarchies; I’m not sure she’s ready to believe me that there might be more to it than fancy clothes and horse-drawn carriages. Not that the wedding would have countered the notion.
I’ve always remembered watching Charles and Di’s wedding, even if I don’t remember many of the details. I hope I’ve gifted Caitlyn with a similar sort of memory, one of watching a moment in history, of a fairy-tale come to life.