Happily Ever After

As children, we grew up believing in the magic of fairy tales and happily ever after.  As little girls, we fantasized about prince charming and we built castles waiting for him to ride in on his white horse.  Even when we had our first puppy love as teenagers, we believed that first boyfriend would play this essential role of prince charming.  As women, we listen to all those perfect love songs played on the radio thinking that one day, he will come.  But with all this hoping and wishing and waiting, when it comes to relationships, is Cinderella just a fairy tale?

We have all seen the personal ads that read.....

"Patiently waiting for my Prince Charming"
"Looking for my Queen."
"In search of my Knight in Shining Armor"
"Wanting a good woman to treat like a Princess"

Well Prince, Princess, Queen, and Knight, what we all want to know is, "Where in the HELL are you?"

Who can blame us though for wanting the fairy tale?  You have little girls growing up believing in things like Sleeping Beauty and Snow White where this handsome prince rushes in to save the day.  You have little boys growing up believing that they are suppose to be the heroes and save the day to win over the princess.  And whatever side you are on, the outcome is still the same.  Happily Ever After.

What we fail to realize though is that they forget to show you the pain that "love" causes.  In these fairy tales there is no cheating, no lying, no jealousy, no complications.  It's just together forever in complete happiness.  What we fail to see is that love has a mind of it's own.  It can be crazy and wild and passionate.  But when love ends, so does the fairy tale, and all you are left with is a tragedy.  The tragedy of wondering if love really does exist.  You are left with the complications of tears, disappointments, and heartaches.  You are left with wondering if prince charming does exist and if you should still have the hope that one day he will show up at your front door.

So what now?  You've finally picked yourself up off the floor.  What do we do now that we've realized that Cinderella IS just a fairy tale?  How do we go about finding someone who can base a relationship off of trust and honesty?  How do we go about finding real love?  And if we are all sitting around waiting to be saved, who is doing the saving?

But that is just it - love isn't meant to save you.  That is not what love is for because no one can make you happy but yourself.  Love is just meant to be there and to let you know that you are not alone.  Maybe you need to be the princess before you can find the prince.  Because until you realize you are worthy of being the princess without the prince,  you're stuck waiting in a tower alone and all you are left with are the toads.

"The hardest thing in life is letting go of what you thought was real."