You've come a long way, baby

Is this hysteria all because little girls want so badly to be princesses that when a "commoner" actually does marry into royalty, the entire female kind are trying to live vicariously through her?
I loved the tale of Cinderella as much as the next little girl, but I never actually figured a prince on his white horse would come knocking on my door with the lost glass slipper. I knew it was a fairy tale and the fact that real royal families did exist didn't excite me much.
They still don't excite me much. That's why I don't understand the fascination with William and Kate.
It's not even "Kate" anymore -- it's Catherine. I guess once you go royal it requires a much more formal name.
I want to scream, "It's just a really expensive wedding, people! Get over it!" But it's not just any old expensive wedding. It's a really expensive royal wedding featuring a common, ordinary girl who won the affections of prince who could feasibly, someday have the throne.
Cinderella has arrived. (Only this Cinderella was born into an upper-middle class family, attended a prestigious college and wears designer clothes.)
I was hoping once the event had actually taken place the hoop-la would end -- not much luck with that. Every media outlet bleeds with coverage of the event. People.com carries more than 100 photos of the ceremony alone. I'm guessing I won't be able to watch E! for the next three months because the True Hollywood story of "Will and Kate: Road to the Alter" will be replayed constantly. Move over Kardashians, there's a new girl to talk about.
Females are not alone when it comes to fueling this hysteria. I heard a group of men talking Friday about the royal wedding. The discussion ranged from how their wives DVR'd it as to watch later, to what the wedding dress looked like, to the logistics of how the big day was arranged. But the part that really got me was one man made sure his daughter saw the ceremony so he could point out that there are princesses in real life. He explained to her how this ordinary girl was marrying a prince, and that the prince's grandmother, was a queen.
Idealizing this makes it seem as if he was saying, "Yes darling, they do exist and if you dream big, someday this could be you, too."
Feed the frenzy. Feed it with designer wedding dresses, while noshing on quail eggs and wearing jewelry made from 100 year old gold.
Cinderella has left the building; hopefully for a deluxe penthouse she purchased for herself with the money she saved from her well paying job at a law firm, where someday she hopes to become partner. Teach them to insist upon themselves, not to dream the fairytale dream.
Good luck, Catherine. Apparently, everyone's watching.

www.people.com/people