Everyone’s heard of “they lived happily ever after.” However, I wonder what really happened after Snow White rode off with her prince on the white horse. Or what about Cinderella? What did she and the prince really do with her wicked stepfamily?
In the real world, wicked stepfamilies don’t disappear; they become in-laws. White horses usually get dirty.
I was looking forward to the “happily ever after” for a short time until I called off my wedding in August.
I got cold feet and freaked out. I left my fianc in the dust and stole his white horse.
At the time, I thought it was the best decision I had ever made, but quickly realized I was wrong.
Since then, I’ve been trying to resuscitate my near-dead relationship hoping that “happily ever after” can still come true for us.
Everywhere we look, pop culture is suffocating American’s with songs about princes with white pick-up trucks and books on how to have your “Happily Forever After.”
I’ve decided that “happily ever after” needs to be revamped. It can be nothing short of a total overhaul so people realize the mass produced fairy tales of Disney is NOT reality.
Although I’m not married, I asked countless friends as part of my research on what comes after marriage. Here are a few things they came up with:
*Honeymoon babies
*New houses
*Adjusting to married life
*Waking up next to your best friend
*The in-laws (aka the wicked stepfamily)
*Paying the bills
*Working full time and going to school
*The white horse gets dirty
*Your first fight
*Deciding where to spend the holidays
*”Not tonight honey, I have a headache”
*You get a dog
*You realize they aren’t as clean as you thought
*The car breaks down
*A weekend getaway
*You never see your friends
*Change of values
*Marriage isn’t what you thought it would be
*He surprises you with roses
*You never see your spouse
*One of your friends gets divorced after five months
*Another baby
*Impotency
*Surviving on ramen noodles
*Trying to plan for the future blindly
*Incurable insanity
*Having faith that everything will work out until finally, mercifully, your children are grown and “happily ever after” can really begin!
Also in my research, I found that “happily ever after” is, in fact, possible. My best friend’s parents are more in love today than the day they were married and it’s been 30 years, four children, a few dogs and countless grandchildren. They are a model relationship. I hope to have one just like it some day.
So, fairy tales can come true-but not the way pop culture says they will. Sometimes the truck breaks down and birds don’t sing.
However, it can still be a fairy tale if you let it.