Tom and I are watching The Crown on Netflix.

We started it a long time ago, but never finished it; our life demanded our attention elsewhere. In fact we forgot about it until our pastor mentioned it one recent Sunday.

The latest episode we watched in Season 4 is titled,

Fairytale—story of Charles and Diana’s courtship and marriage.

We didn’t know they had only seen each other 13 times before they married. I was shocked, until I realized Tom and I also dated only 12 weeks until we were engaged. We lived 2.5 hours apart, so our dates were limited.

We joked that after the wedding is when our dating really began. And for us, by God’s grace, it worked.

Like Diana I was scared of the unknown life ahead of me. I was still a teenager (19) and naive. I was homesick for the familiar, since I moved away from friends and family. I hardly knew Tom. But unlike Diana, I had a husband whose intentions and love for me were sincere.

The media created a reality of their own.

They desperately wanted the heir to the throne to find a wife. One whom the country could love and embrace as their Queen one day.

Yet they ignored the most important fact; to have what they hoped for it would have to be real.

Fairytales aren’t real.

As we watched the trauma of Diana’s story I was heartbroken for the many marriages her story represents. Heartache caused by neglect or unfaithfulness is hard to heal. But God is able to do the impossible if both are willing to do the hard work necessary.

At the close of the episode, the archbishop presiding over the ceremony said these words…

“Here is the stuff of which fairy tales are made. A prince and princess on their wedding day. But fairytales usually end at this point with the simple phrase, ‘They lived happily ever after.’

“As husband and wife live out their vows, loving and cherishing one another, sharing life’s splendors and miseries, achievements and setbacks, they will be transformed in the process. Our (Christian) faith sees the wedding day not as the place of arrival, but the place where the adventure really begins.”

The Crown – Archbishop Robert Runcie

This is why we do what we do—to encourage a reality in marriage where both husband and wife are loved and cherished for as long as they both shall live.

We’ll take the adventure over a fairytale; how about you?