Today’s Daily Prompt is : Happily Ever After
“And they lived happily ever after.” Think about this line for a few minutes. Are you living happily ever after? If not, what will it take for you to get there?
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Happily ever after, what every little girl dreams of. Most little girls I should say. When I was growing up I didn’t think about a “happily ever after”. I never thought much about the future at all.
I took it one day at a time. Did I want a happily ever after. Sure, why not? That would have been the best scenario. I’ve always been more of the ‘here and now’ girl. Never looked too far off into the distance. Saves on disappointment. Cynical right?
I did have a few select dreams of the future. Those precious few that I kept to myself, with a promise I would try my best to make them come true. Somewhere along the way I almost lost those few dreams. Almost.
They got hidden and misplaced when life turned nasty on me for a while. Now, today, they are firmly in place. A little battered, a bit dusty, even a smidgen bruised. They came out of hiding and are now established in my future once more. More important, they are in my present as well. No more hiding for them!
What are they you ask? The first one has been to become a writer. It was firmly planted when I was taught how to read and I immersed myself in that first book. I have always wanted to write, to become a writer, to see my words in print. I’m working hard on that dream every day now. It has healed from its bruises, it has shaken the dust from its misty form. My writing dream has risen from the ashes like a Phoenix, brightly burning once more.
The second and last dream was to accept myself as who I am. I am a flawed human. I have given myself permission to be flawed. To make mistakes. To be imperfect.
I always felt I had to be more then I am. I strived to be that perfect woman. I put so much pressure on myself that I was always unhappy. Now, I take that pressure off. I don’t want to be perfect anymore. I just want to be me, warts and all. Perfect would be perfectly boring.
Am I ‘happily ever after’? I suppose in my own way I am, or at least I am working on it. Life has its sucky moments. Life can hurt. Life can also give you great moments of joy, peace, love and forgiveness.
I will work on being happy for my entire life. I am always a work in progress. I just want a life with its ups and downs. With its bruises and its dust. Without them I wouldn’t know what true happiness is. I accept it all. That is my ‘happily ever after’.
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The Last Chapter 
Happily ever after leaves so much wanting. There is no happily ever after in the fairy tale version we tell ourselves, how right you are to realize you need the ups and downs to make life complete.
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Thank you sistah!
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Nice, warm and very balanced – you have found yourself and that’s what really matters. I am with you in the “not most” little girls who did not dream what is usually meant by happily ever after. Life happens and we need to find our own way through it – hopefully growing in the process 🙂
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Thank you Tiny. So true also, we all need to learn what makes the happily ever after for yourself. 🙂
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I think contented ever after is a pretty good goal for me – the fairly tale has proven to be not at all what it seemed 🙂
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are fairy tales ever what they seem? 😉
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I could write on that subject a bit. “Happily ever after” doesn’t make as interesting a life as “What happens next”. Mines been darn “Interesting”. You seem to have as pragmatic a view on it as I do. Happy in the moment. What more can we ask. Nice writing.
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True Marlene. I would much rather have a “what happens next” then a “happily ever after”. Thanks for reading and commenting. Appreciate it.
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I can tell that you are in a season of peace. “I just want to be me, warts and all.” That is such a smart thing to say and feel. As always, you expressed this so well, Jackie. You are reaching your dreams.
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Thank you Maddie. I am always trying to be more accepting of myself.
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