Sunday, October 23, 2011

Happily Ever After...Are Fairy Tales Real?

I just watched this new show "Once Upon a Time", and it was good, really good. It's a show about fairy tales...with a twist. Right now it has to do with Snow White, an evil witch's curse, and the return of Snow White and Prince Charming's baby girl after 28 years of no happy endings. She, named Emma, is going to save them all, and Rumpelstiltskin has something to do with all this, too. I found it pretty intriguing and so did my husband. He's generally a NCIS, Criminal Minds kind of guy.

I love fairy tales. I have all my life. My favorite is Cinderella. I like all the handsome prince rescuing the damsel in distress stuff. Call me a hopeless romantic or just a little silly. Of course none of that stuff really ever happens anyway. Life is no fairy tale.

But that's okay.

I'm not sure where this new show is going, but the premise is really different. Of course, there's another show premiering sometime soon called "Grimm." Grimm's fairy tales were...well, pretty grim.

So my knight in shining armor didn't ride up to my castle on a mighty white stallion. He did drive up to my blue and white trailer (I was a young teacher, and the little southern town I chose to teach in had very few apartments available over 40 years ago) in a white Corvette. He was quite dashing (our first date was really a blind date) with black curls, black eyes, a killer smile, and was far away from the typical college boys I had previously dated. He was a man, a Vietnam veteran who had seen more than he should have. And sparks flew at our first meeting and have endured for 40 years with a few missteps along our journey together.

I had the first cocktail ever on our first date. It was some kind of fruity concoction called a Singapore Sling. I was merrily drinking it down through a straw, and he warned me that I should maybe drink it a little slower. He was probably quite correct in telling me that. I was a neophyte drinker and became just a tad tipsy. He did tell me that I had pretty hair. It was long then and very light blond, Nice'nEasy's extra light ash blond, to be precise. Anyway, I looked at him (God, he was cute!), and said, "Oh thank you. It glows in the dark."

And then I giggled, and I think hiccuped a bit. Lord have mercy. I felt like an idiot. He just laughed at me.

Three months later, we were married. We've had four absolutely gorgeous children, a daughter and three sons, all college graduates. We now have a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law we adore and two precious grandchildren, a boy and a girl. We are very blessed.

So maybe Snow White's daughter Emma really does exist, and she made our life as "happily ever after" as possible in this day and age.

Who knows? It could happen...really.

3 comments:

Drena said...

Impressive to make it 40 yrs. even more so having only dated 3 months! U guys were practically strangers! Love it!

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

I wanted to watch that program last night as it looked to be something different from the usual murder/reality/dumb comedies shown. Missed it but I can get it On Demand or Hulu.

I believe that two people have to work hard to have a Happily Ever After and that includes a lot of forgiveness, a deaf ear, tolerance, selflessness, and not always having to be right. It's not easy and needs the participation of both. It is always nice to see a couple that have accomplished all that and are still in-love and in-like after all those years.

Alexandra Heep said...

Being German, I grew up with the real Grimm tales (not the tame American versions) and I must say, never believed in a happily ever after, as it just never happened.

I saw the show advertised, but did not watch it as there are very few things on TV I enjoy.