Prince William And Kate Middleton

At the start of July, after picking up the girls at June’s end, visiting Vieux Montreal the same day and seeing the jazz festival being set up, characters on stilts, paintings on sidewalks, water fountains, charming town squares, sex shops (oh yes, quite the education for my girls who merely only saw the words over a business door and blushed—no, we did not go in! What kind of mother do you think I am?), novelty boutiques, and Chinatown, we left Marc in Saguenay for work and went to Levis to see the prince and his bride for their first of appearances in their Canada tour.

We waited a total of about 9 hours to see them, at least 5 of those unnecessary as we came WAY early in the morning to make sure we got a good spot and noticed that we could have come a lot later. Still, it was good to be safe, and finally after about eight or nine hours, they came into the barred-off circle of people, a crowd of probably four- to five-thousand people, and shook hands with as many people as their security team would let them, Prince William taking the far side, Kate Middleton coming around our side, who the girls wanted to see more.

I let two other little girls with flowers, whose mother I had been talking to for the afternoon, go in front of me to share the front-row space with my girls and all four of their faces were all over the newspapers the following day, and the television news. Marc had seen us all on the live coverage at work and had been super excited and jumping up and down.

Waiting outside the fort doors at Levis, QC. It was quiet for quite a while.

The girls were beside themselves when Kate finally made it around to them, and from what I could see, Ms. Middleton was very gracious. I really have to say it was nice to see someone exhibit a down-to-earthness that seems so easily lost on celebrities, at least from all the testimonies I’ve ever read about famous people who lose it or who are such jerks in person, and especially because up until that day, I really couldn’t see the relevance of the British royal family. However, I could definitely sense that she was just being a person who “happened” upon celebrity status, rather than being an altered ego of herself, like stars or celebrities or are driven by the sensationalism of their own career. And I am happy to admit that I can see that what Kate Middleton brings back to the royal family is something very akin to hope for future generations. With a rather classy, classic style, she is a new, refreshing kind of role model for young girls; and she seems to be as in awe of her status and reception as her fans are. What’s more is that it’s exciting, especially as a mother, to have such a wholesome thing to look up to. Yes, I can say I’m happy to be a convert, if only because it made me realize how cynical my attitudes have become.