Princesses and Their Prince Charmings

So, I've been thinking quite a bit lately about Prince Charming and when he'll find me and what it will be like and what a cute fairy tale it will make. And I noticed a common thread between all the classic princess stories: they weren't just looking for him, they were living their own lives. Sure, they wanted Prince Charming to save them from wicked stepmothers and endless chores and boring long days, but it wasn't their whole life.

Belle had reading and housework and her father keeping her busy while she waited and watched for her Prince in disguise. Also, Belle didn't take her father's place in the tower to make the Beast fall in love with her and become a princess. She did so to save her father from certain death, selflessly and lovingly.

Ariel didn't become a human to find and woo a human prince, she did it to try something new!

Snow White wasn't singing while she worked to have her voice win over her prince. She did it to make her work more bearable.

Sleeping Beauty didn't dream so that Phillip would one day appear in reality. She dreamt to feed her active imagination and hopes.

Jasmine didn't go out in the marketplace to find Aladdin and make him a prince. She went into the marketplace to escape her life that she'd grown unhappy with and find her own place in the world.

Tianna didn't kiss Naveen to go on a grand adventure and become a princess. She kissed him to help him out. She also worked hard to get what she wanted in the end.

Rapunzel didn't leave her tower to fall for Flynn (or Eugene, whichever you prefer to call him). She left the tower to have an adventure and to discover what the lights were, not to mention to spite her "mother".

What I'm trying to say is: don't just sit there and wait for Prince Charming. Do something: read, paint, try something new, escape, dream, sing, help, whatever it is that helps you be you. In time someone will come along and sweep you off your feet and carry you off to your dreams. And if you've already been swept off your feet, count yourself lucky.

"Some day my prince will come, some day I'll find the one. Though he's far away I'll find my love someday, someday when my dreams come true!"

Valentines Day!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

I've decided this may be my favorite holiday. Not for the romance and the flowers and candy, but for the opportunity to show and express your love for the people you love most. I love the secrecy of surprises you get to give those you love. I love feeling loved, but more loving others. I love telling and showing friends and family I love them and seeing their eyes get watery or their lips crack into a smile. I love making frilly pink and red things and giving them to people. I love seeing the couples trying to do cute things for each other. I love that my Dad doesn't give my mom flowers on Valentines Day because it's too expected and surprises her with flowers random days of the year when she won't have a clue! I love that my Dad's Valentine for me was half of a $5 foot-long (my favorite kind--Chicken Bacon Ranch!!) and half a cookie. I love that my Mom spent an hour making me a beautiful card and filling it with confetti hearts. I love knowing that all the way in Guatemala my sister read the Valentine I snuck into her suitcase. (My brother will get his when he gets back, I didn't get the chance to sneak his in his suitcase!) Most of all I love the few things I don't dare post. Those very close to me know those few things and know that they made me so happy I cried and am again.

Yes, it is hard to be single on Valentines Day, but it doesn't lessen or dampen the brilliant glow that loving others and being loved by others makes me feel. Yes, it's hard to work on Valentines night and see all the couples, but the tips were great! (Even if it was because they felt sorry for me!) But I love this beautiful holiday. Maybe enough to call it my favorite. I'm not quite sure yet.

"If you live to be 100, I want to live to be 100 minus one day so I never live without you." Winnie the Pooh

"I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it." Audrey Hepburn

Adventure

Well, my brother and sister are probably boarding their plane right now to go to Guatemala. They're doing service their with a dental group (I'm hoping my mom comments and puts the name of the group on here, because I always spell it wrong!). I hope they have a great adventure but, like every Disney movie, get home safely.

Speaking of Disney, I really miss Disneyland. I keep dreaming about it. And all this missing the Happiest Place on Earth (which I still think of as home), is not helped by the return of Dole Pineapple Whips to Krave--for those of you who don't know those are sold at the entrance to Adventureland. It's like my own taste of Adventureland. But with no Bazaar to go look into, or journey through Tarzan's Treehouse, no Indiana Jones to ride on, or Jungle Cruise to go through laughing too hard at the half-baked jokes, no Bengal Barbecue to walk past and tell my best friend (who is always there with me in my dreams, like she was those beautiful 6 months) "That's the Jonas Brothers favorite place to eat in Disneyland!" and no reply from her--laughing of course! "You've told me a thousand times! And I'm the one who told you that!". I miss working with everyone there at the Emporium, I miss class on Wednesdays sitting next to Micayla, I just miss that life I had. Though it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my whole life, that 6 months was the most beautiful and wonderful, happy time in my life. And I miss it terribly. Anyone have a time machine they can give me to go revisit that? :) No, it is a beautiful memory and shall stay golden and glowing with fairy dust as it does. And as is the new theme for Disney Parks "Let the Memories Begin."

I'm on my own Adventure currently. An Adventure to use Brave Words to set the truth straight and still see the Beauty in others. An Adventure to set the truth free and to make things right. And let me tell you, it's an Adventure. I've felt my balloons be popped halfway to Paradise Falls, and felt my jeep break down in the middle of my journey. But also, there have been good things come from this Adventure as Indy or Mr. Fredrickson and Carl or any other adventurer would experience too. Though relationships have been tested, already they've become stronger. Though I thought I would fall apart, already I have become stronger and--surprisingly--braver. There's still more to come though, the worst isn't over, but the best is yet to come.

Just remember, "Adventure is out there!"