Friday, October 15, 2010

Happily Ever After

I grew up watching Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast over and over again. I loved the beautiful, song-filled princesses and the handsome, graceful princes that captivated my TV screen. Every twirl of their dresses, each glimmer of their eyes, and the enchanting songs they would sing enraptured my imagination convincing me that life would be played out as in the fairy tale. Some day my Prince would surely come...he always does. Right?

Anytime my world was wrong, I would imagine that I was that princess...just waiting for my Prince to rescue me from the rapture of the evil step-mother or the wicked step-sister (sometimes these rolls were assumed by my mother or sister depending upon who displeased me more). Needless to say, this was a scenario that played out in my head frequently. I would "lock" myself in my room and twirl and dance and sing...and wait.

As a young girl, the role of Prince was always played by my daddy. What little girl doesn't picture daddy as her knight in shining armor, the perfect image of a man? But as my little girl whimsies grew into big-girl dreams and wishes, the role of Prince changed. I waited and hoped and longed for that "tall, dark, and handsome" Prince to find me, sweep me onto his horse and take me away so we could live out our perfect fairy tale ending.

Disappointments abound when perfection is one's expectation. No boy met all of my princess-ly standards for being named my Prince Charming. And even after I said "I Do", I longed to be whisked off to my kingdom on a grand statuesque horse lead by my strong, gorgeous Prince. So when the blunders and misconceptions of life landed on my doorstep, I have to admit, I was taken aback and more than a little disheartened and disappointed. Lessons learned, compromises made, and with the facade of perfection thrown out the window of my castle.......I realized that "Happily Ever After" was waiting just inside my front door.

6 comments:

The Frantic Mother. said...

I can relate to this. The first time I heard the song White Horse by Taylor Swift I was like NO SHIT. LOL

Anonymous said...

ha ha oh my goodness this is so true. I'm still waiting for Prince Charming to pull in my drive on a big black Harley. He drives a honda!!! LOLz

Becky Jane said...

I've been married for over 30 years and CL is my best friend...Prince charming...Not really but who better to spend my life with than my best friend!
Thanks for a beautiful post!

Unknown said...

Hi,

Thanks for coming by and commenting. Thanks for telling me about my twitter button. I wrote my twitter name wrong.

Its so true about the princess charming issue. I guess the bottom line is learning we need to be are own Princess/Queen. Instead of lookinng for someone else to make things great. I think the hardest part (for me) is letting my little one enjoy the fairy tales but not growing up expecting that.

I realize now its better to have a best friend than a prince charming.

Have a great weekend.

Gretchen said...

I sometimes feel sad that I didn't meet my husband in high school. We both had serious relationships before we met each other, and we both got our hearts broken. I am so glad we did, because otherwise we wouldn't have met each other. At the same time, though, I wish we hadn't been "hardened" by our previous heartbreaks. There is something so special about first love, how that feeling never fully goes away, and I wish I had been my husband's first love and I wish he had been mine. He is my only love and my eternal love, but I guess I already knew before we got married that "Prince Charming" was just a big fat lie.

Annette said...

So true!!! I spent a good majority of my life searching for Prince Charming...not realizing that the real Prince Charming might not be tall, dark, and handsome, rich, or perfect. In fact, he might actually have some frustrating flaws, but then again, so do I, and we've learned how to still help each other and find a compromise to "happily ever after."