by Lena

Once upon a time there was a little girl.

Cute.
Lovable.
Sweet.
Pretty little angel with blonde curls.

Or so her mom thought.

They lived alone and though they had their trying times too, they were happy. The girl had never asked about her dad but she knew he should have hurt her mom very badly as she was still angry with him.

Because of him her mother had never read any fairytales to her. And the girl loved these tales about princes and princesses, obstacles thrown in their way, and the wedding bells in the end of each story. She loved that “And they lived happily ever after” line. But her mother used to repeat that there was “no happily ever after” but only “once upon a time”, and though the girl didn’t understand what her mother meant, she was afraid to ask because of the bitterness in her  voice.

The girl used to read these books by herself, not telling anyone because she did not want her mom to become angry and hide the books from her. Which she could.  Our girl kept reading and she truly  believed that one day her Prince Charming would overcome all the difficulties on his way to her, his princess and they will meet. Preferably on Christmas Eve. Or maybe Valentine’s Day. Even better.

They will dance. They will kiss. They will sally into the fairyland of love.

She kept dreaming. Reading. Wondering. Imagining.

When she was six, she had lost her best friend because he said Prince Charming did not exist, neither did Santa. Imagine that! The girl didn’t believe him – which girl would? –  and never talked to the boy again.

When she was ten, kids in her class found her weird because she never talked about movie stars or computer games. Girls didn’t like her because she never played with them. She thought books were way more useful than their stupid games. Boys didn’t like her because… well, she didn’t like them either, so we will just leave it at that.

And around Christmas she used to sit at the window and wait for a miracle.  Nothing happened. Ever.

The girl grew up.

When she was fifteen she knew exactly what love was. And even though her mom still believed in “Happily never after”, our girl knew better than that. She knew her Prince Charming was on his way to her. And she knew that even if he lost his path, he was smart enough to find it again.

While all the girls of her age were going out with boys, had their first kisses and just had fun, she never stopped dreaming. And each Christmas she kept looking out of the window squinting into the darkness, searching for him.

Nothing happened. Not even on Valentine’s Day.

When she was twenty some of the girls she knew got married. Some had kids. Some got divorced. And she still was waiting for her Prince Charming. People kept saying that she should be realistic. Princes do not exist, they are just illusion, some said.  Love itself is illusion, the others insisted.
The girl didn’t listen to anyone; she knew exactly what love was. She just wondered what took that Frog…. Ummm… sorry, Prince, so long to find her.

Five Christmases went by. Five Valentine’s Days. Nothing happened.

When she was twenty-five she was haunted by the doubts if Prince Charming really existed. Or maybe he was just blind or disoriented, or didn’t feel much like searching for his princess. At some point she even thought he might have decided to marry a country girl instead.

And just when she was about to give up, was discouraged, ready to believe everything people had been telling her for the last twenty years. Just when her mom brought out another “I told you so.” Just when she was about to throw all the fairytales books into the trash… He came.

He smiled and said, “Hello.” And she totally fell for him.
She knew that was love she had always imagined. Breathtaking.

And no, it was not on Christmas. Not even on Valentine’s Day. But that day was a true holiday for our girl and her prince. One of their own. The day marked the beginning of another true love.

And it goes without saying that they lived happily ever after. Or even after this after.

Moral of the story: Never give up on your dreams, sometimes they are everything you have got, and even more.